when sectarian religionists fanatics attack

[theist]

 

 

Hundreds die in stampede

 

01sep05

 

UP to 650 people were killed and 300 injured in a stampede in Baghdad yesterday as thousands of Shi'ite Muslims gathered near a shrine.

 

Most stampede victims were women, children and the elderly, hospital officials said.

Many drowned after falling off a bridge into the river Tigris in a surge of panic triggered by rumours there were suicide bombers in the crowd.

 

Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, a spokesman for fiery

 

Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, said insurgents had spread the rumours to cause panic.

 

"We hold the terrorists, Saddamists and radical extremists responsible for what happened," said Shi'ite official Ammar al-Hakim, a leader in the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

 

Interior Minister Bayan Jabor also blamed "a terrorist".

 

A hospital official said 20 people had also died of poisoning.

 

The crowds had gathered to commemorate the death of a revered figure, Imam Mussa Kazim.

 

The stampede occurred soon after the Kadhimiya shrine had come under mortar fire, which left at least seven people dead and dozens wounded.

 

The US military said helicopters had fired on rebels who carried out the mortar attack and they were trying to track down those responsible.

 

A dozen people were detained for questioning.

 

Six other people were wounded when gunmen opened fire on Shi'ite pilgrims in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighbourhood, an Interior Ministry source said.

 

"The pilgrims were heading towards the Kadhimiya shrine and had passed a Sunni mosque on the way when some gunmen opened fire on them," the source said.

 

In another attack, three Iraqis, including a policeman, were killed in the northern city of Kirkuk when rebels attacked a police patrol.

 

The US military said it had no exact number of casualties, but claimed three strikes on "terrorist safe houses" were thought to have killed Abu Islam, an al-Qaida operative, and several associates.

 

US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said yesterday that changes to Iraq's draft constitution were still possible, raising the hopes of disgruntled Sunni Arabs.

 

The move came as the Sunnis, who form the backbone of the raging insurgency, were seeking alliances to defeat the charter in an October

 

15 referendum.

 

 

 

 

[AncientMariner]

That kind of stuff doesn't bother Muslims at all but if you accidently drop a Koran on the floor, then LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theist]

Now the death toll is said to be 950. I doubt it spent much time being discussed on Al Jezeera