  Military helicopters monitor security as thousands of Shia pilgrims join a religious parade in Karbala in central Iraq to mark Ashura. About two million Shia pilgrims were in Karbala, 100km south of Baghdad; Iraqi Shia Muslims perform a traditional play about the slaying of Imam Hussein as part of Ashura's mourning rituals in Baghdad's impoverished district of Sadr City (photos: AFP) parent page (24 - 30 January 2008, issue #881) |