Tens of thousands of Shia pilgrims converge on saintly shrine

Tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims converged on a golden-domed shrine in northern Baghdad, some beating their heads and chests with their hands and others dancing in a circle to honour an eighth century saint.

The procession took place under tight security with guards checking each pilgrim as they reached the green iron gates of the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim mosque and a city-wide driving ban in effect until early Saturday to prevent suicide car bombings.

Shiite religious festivals have become easy targets for Sunni insurgents trying to provoke an all-out civil war between Iraq’s main Muslim groups.

This festival was struck by tragedy two years ago, when an estimated 1,000 pilgrims were killed in a stampede after reports spread that a suicide attacker was among them.

Still, this year women shrouded in black abayas and men of all ages walked for hours, some even days, from holy cities south of Baghdad and the volatile Diyala province to the north to reach the mosque with twin golden domes and four minarets that sparkled in the unrelenting summer sun.