Wailing Iraqis throng Karbala

KARBALA, Iraq (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of Shias crowded the streets of Karbala on Tuesday, many beating their own backs with metal chains as the annual Ashura ceremonies built towards a peak.
The shrine city south of Baghdad was heavily guarded as devotees from across the Muslim world flooded through security checkpoints to reach two imposing shrines " one to Hazrat Imam Hussein (RA), the other to his half-brother Hazrat Imam Abbas (RA).
The rituals will reach their climax in Karbala on Wednesday, but processions marking Islam's holiest days have been held across Iraq for the past week.
Around two million people were expected to be in Karbala, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, by late Wednesday, guarded by a heavy security force deployment. "More than 28,000 security forces including back up troops from the interior ministry (police) in Baghdad were sent to control the security of the city," military commander Brigadier General Othman Qanimi said earlier this week. Amid a strong police presence on the streets, pilgrims arriving at the shrine had to undergo intensive searches near the city centre as helicopters buzzed above. Akil al-Khazali, governor of Karbala province, said more than 55,000 foreigners have already arrived from countries such as Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan and Tanzania. Swarming crowds in Karbala on Tuesday joined sombre processions in which men and even some boys, accompanied by drummers, beat their chests and engaged in the devotional self-flagellation that characterises the Ashura rituals.
Tents and small wooden rooms covered in black fabric and adorned with lights and pictures of the Imams have sprung up across the city for pilgrims in need of food or seeking a rest from the intense bustle of the streets.
The pilgrims ritually drink a goblet of fresh water to remember the burning thirst that 71 family members of Hazrat Imam Hussein (RA) endured as they were led through the desert to captivity in Syria.
"I dreamed since my childhood of seeing Karbala, and now my childhood dream has come true," said Kossid Akhour, 50, a pilgrim from Pakistan dressed in black robes, the colour of mourning. His friend Assim Abbas, 25, described his visit to Karbala as arriving in the "paradise" he had always dreamed of.
Many pilgrims crossed the border from Iran, which has the largest concentration of Shias in the world.