Hundreds dead in Baghdad bridge disaster ~ " I'm pleased with the progress" G W Bush



12.15pm
 
'600 dead' in Baghdad bridge disaster

Staff and agencies
Wednesday August 31, 2005

Guardian Unlimited

Up to 600 people are reported to have been killed and more than 250 injured in Baghdad, after Shia pilgrims panicked amid reports that a suicide bomber was in their midst.

Police said that the stampede occurred on a bridge over the Tigris river, packed with Shia worshippers during a religious procession. A spokesman said some people were killed in the crush and others fell into the river and drowned when a railing on the bridge collapsed.

Most of those killed in the disaster are believed to be women and children, said interior ministry spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman.

Conflicting reports have put the death toll between 300 and 648. Brigadier General Khalid Hassan told Associated Press at least 340 people died, but Iraq's deputy health minister, Jalil al-Shumari, told Reuters that more than 500 may have died. An interior minister is reported to say the death toll had risen to 648 with 322 injured.

One Iraqi television station reported that the prime minister, Ibrahim Jaafari, has declared three days of mourning for the victims of the stampede.

The deaths happened after rumours spread that a suicide bomber was preparing to blow himself up among the crowd celebrating a Shia ceremony.

Thousands of people had been making their way towards the Kadhimiya mosque - an important Shia shrine in the north of Baghdad - to celebrate the martyrdom of Mousa al-Kadim, a revered religious figure among Shia Muslims.

One hospital source said it had received at least 100 bodies and 255 injured by 09.30 BST. The source said bodies were also being sent to two other nearby hospitals. "We have lost count, we have hundreds and hundreds of dead and injured," a health ministry official told Reuters.

Several mortar attacks on the shrine were also reported, with at least seven people being killed and 35 injured. Television reports said around 1 million pilgrims from many parts of Baghdad and outlying provinces had gathered near the Kadhimiya mosque.

Tensions have been running high among Iraq's religious and political parties over the issue of the new constitution. A referendum is due to be held on the constitution on October 15 and today is the last day that Iraqis can register to vote.

The Sunnis are angry at what they see as the ruling Shia and Kurdish coalition forcing through a draft constitution that alienates their hopes for a new Iraq.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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