26 killed in Shiite city of Karbala in two days

Police ordered a curfew today in Shiite holy city of Karbala and told more than one million pilgrims to leave after two days of violence claimed least 26 lives during a Shiite religious festival.

An Interior Ministry official accused the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr of attacking government security forces in the centre of Karbala, site of two Shiite shrines under the control of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council. Al-Sadr’s forces are battling SIIC for power in regions south of Baghdad.

The Interior Ministry official said the 26 dead were killed in gunbattles between security forces and militiamen.

The official, who would not allow his name to be used for security reasons, said the government in Baghdad was sending buses to Karbala to take some of the pilgrims out of the city.

Gunshots rang out Tuesday in the area near the Shiite shrines which are the focal point of celebrations marking the birthday of the 12th and last Shiite imam, who disappeared in the 9th century. The festival was to have reached its high point tonight and tomorrow morning.

The 26 dead were killed in two outbursts of gunfire, one Monday night and a second about midday today.

Police initially blamed Shiite pilgrims trying to push past frustratingly slow security checkpoints near the Imam al-Hussein mosque.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf said said Prime Minister Nouri Maliki had dispatched more troops to the area from Baghdad and surrounding areas.

He called the gunmen who fought police were “criminals” adding that the curfew was imposed because of fears for the large mass of pilgrims.

“The situation now is under control but what is worrying is that the pilgrims are in huge numbers. … The area where they were gathering has been evacuated in order to control those (criminals),” Khalaf said. He said the gunmen were gathering in three areas in the old town and security forces were chasing them.

A member of the city council said the centre of town was in chaos with pilgrims running in all directions to escape the gunfire. No one, he said, was sure who was doing the shooting. He said a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near the shrine.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” said the councilman, who wouldn’t allow use of his name for security reasons. “All we know is the huge numbers of pilgrims was too much for the checkpoints to handle and now there is shooting.”

Four people – two men and two women – were killed in a similar melee near the mosque Monday night. One of the wounded died overnight. Associated Press Television News pictures from the city, 50 miles south of Baghdad, showed pilgrims running helter-skelter as gunfire, apparently police shooting into the air, rang out through the streets near the mosque.

North of Baghdad, hundreds of US and Iraqi forces backed by helicopters and jet fighters killed 33 Sunni insurgents who were holding back the water supply to the Shiite town of Khalis, the American command said in a statement today.

The assault began before dawn yesterday when a joint force was landed by helicopter in the village of Gubbiya, 10 miles east of Khalis. The assault force killed 13 fighters and attack aircraft killed 20 others, the military said. The area is known to be controlled by al-Qaida in Iraq.

Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, has been the scene of repeated Sunni insurgent bombings and mortar attacks.

“The objective of the mission was to open the spillway, which regulates water flow to the town of Khalis, restoring the essential service of water,” the statement said.

The assault uncovered three weapons caches, led to the capture of three men and “water is currently flowing unimpeded to Khalis,” the military said. The statement did not say if any US or Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded.

A Bradley Fighting Vehicle was seen engulfed in flames at the side of the road leading to Baghdad Airport this morning. The US military said the armoured vehicle had suffered an undetermined mechanical fault and none of the crew was hurt.

In Fallujah, the Sunni city 40 miles west of Baghdad, mourners buried 11 victims of a mosque suicide bombing Monday night. Ten people were wounded in the attack which police said targeted an anti-al-Qaida Sunni sheikh who had just returned from Syria.

Meanwhile, suspected Sunni gunmen kept up attacks on pilgrims travelling to and from Karbala for the Shabaniyah festival, which marks the birth of Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam who disappeared in the 9th century. Devout Shiites believe he will return to Earth to restore peace and harmony.

A boy was killed and his father was wounded by drive-by shooters who opened fire on their car as they drove home from Karbala. In a separate incident gunmen opened fire randomly on vehicles returning to Baghdad, wounding two pilgrims in a small bus. And a sniper opened fire on pilgrims in southern Baghdad, wounding four.

Sunni politicians, meanwhile, applauded goals set down in an agreement hammered out by the country’s top leaders under intense American pressure but expressed doubt that the US-backed prime minister would actually see them through.