Shiite pilgrims march through Baghdad surrounded by security
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press
BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands of black-clad pilgrims from across Iraq are taking part in an annual procession marking the death of a Shiite saint. The procession Thursday amid chilly temperatures and heavy security travels to the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, the seventh of 12 Shiite imams who died in a Baghdad prison in the eighth century. Pilgrims traditionally travel on foot to the burial site in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadimiyah. This year’s pilgrimage takes place just ahead of the 20-year anniversary next month of the U.S. invasion of Iraq that led to the downfall of longtime dictator Saddam Hussein. Hussein had banned such pilgrimages from taking place.
