20 killed as snipers open fire on Shiite pilgrims' march

Published on 21/08/2006 00:52

SNIPERS firing from rooftops and a cemetery yesterday killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 300 in Baghdad, in a series of attacks on a Shiite religious procession.

The firing began as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walked through Sunni areas of the Iraqi capital on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa Kadhim, a Shiite saint, said a health ministry spokesman, Qassim Allawi.

Security forces and Shiite militiamen in flak jackets were seen exchanging gunfire with unseen assailants firing from houses. Some of the attackers also fired from behind tombstones in a Sunni cemetery.

Mr Allawi said 20 pilgrims had been killed and 304 injured, mostly in falls as they ran in panic. Police also said four militants had died. Estimates put the number of pilgrims at anything between 200,000 and one million.