Fears of violence as Shiite pilgrims converge on Najaf

Tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims defied fears of violence and converged around a gold-domed mosque in the first major religious procession since Shiite battles turned a procession into a scene of bloodshed.

Men in white Arab gowns and women shrouded in black passed through a series of searches as they packed the courtyard of the Imam Ali mosque and the narrow streets in the Shiite holy city of Najaf to mark the 7th-century death of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.