An Iraqi boy mourns the death of his brother who died in the deadly stampede on a Baghdad bridge that killed nearly 1,000 pilgrims who panicked because of rumours of suicide bombers in their midst (AFP)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Thousands of people attended funerals Thursday for some of the hundreds of Shiite pilgrims killed in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge during a religious procession, as criticism mounted against the Shiite-led government for failing to prevent the tragedy.
Iraq”s Ministry of Interior announced Thursday that a total of 953 people had died and 815 were injured in the chaos the day before on a bridge in north Baghdad. But Health Ministry spokesman Qassim Yahya said 843 died and 439 were injured. It was not possible to explain the difference. Iraqi ministries routinely announce different death counts after disasters or major insurgent attacks, and discrepancies are often never reconciled.
Panic ensued after rumors swept the thousands jammed on the bridge that a suicide bomber was about to strike. Victims were crushed in the chaos or fell into the muddy Tigris River 10 meters (30 feet) below.
Some Iraqi political organizations accused Saddam Hussein loyalists and Sunni religious extremists for spreading the rumor but provided no proof. Poor crowd control, heavy security and the climate of fear after so many suicide attacks helped set the stage for the disaster.
Some Sunnis from the Azamiyah district on the east bank jumped into the river and risked their lives to rescue Shiites, witnesses said.
"This is a result of the inadequate performance of the interior and defense ministers which has caused such a loss of life," said Baha al-Aaraji, a Shiite lawmaker affiliated to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
"They should be stand in front of the National Assembly and be questioned. If it is proven that they have failed to fulfill their responsibilities, they should be dismissed and stand trial," he said.
The tragedy highlighted the risks of assembling such large crowds of people in one of the world”s most dangerous and unstable countries. Shiite gatherings have been targeted by Sunni militants, and several mortars and rockets struck the area near the marchers destination about three hours before the bridge disaster.
However, Shiite political parties encourage huge turnouts at religious festivals to display the majority sect”s power in the new Iraq. But the huge crowds overtax the ability of police and security services to protect them.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, told state-run Iraqiya television that "the government should take measures for an honest investigation to determine how failures doubled the casualties."
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari and the ministers of defense and health visited a hospital where many of the victims were taken. The prime minister, a Shiite, said neighboring countries including Jordan and Iran had offered to help treat the victims. "We are ready to send abroad any patient who needs medical treatment there," he said.
The government has proclaimed a three-day period of mourning after the disaster, which appeared to have been sparked by a rumor that a suicide bomber was among the more than one million people gathering at a Shiite shrine in the capital.
The tragedy occurred as Shiites were marching to the tomb of Imam Moussa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim, one of the 12 principle Shiite saints, in a mosque in the nearby neighborhood of Kazimiyah. Television reports said about 1 million pilgrims from Baghdad and outlying provinces had gathered near the shrine on Wednesday.
A day after the diaster, hundreds of people were searching for their dead relatives at Baghdad hospitals. Many of the bodies were strewn on the floor outside the hospital”s morgue, which itself was packed with corpses.
Crowds also gathered at the Imam Ali Hospital in Baghdad”s eastern Sadr City district. Dozens of bodies were identified and taken away for burial by their relatives, medical workers said.
Most of the inhabitants of the impoverished district are Shiites who have moved to the capital from the countryside in the past several decades.
Many families erected large tents on Sadr City streets, a traditional venue for mourners to come to pay respect to the dead.
Some of the dead were being taken to Wadi al-Salaam, or The Valley of Peace, in a cemetery in the holy city of Najaf and burial place of Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.
An Iraqi jumps into the Tigris river, in Baghdad, during the deadly stampede that killed nearly 1,000 pilgrims who panicked because of rumours of suicide bombers in their midst (AP)
Iraqis walk among shoes lost during a stampede on a bridge in Baghdad, 31 August 2005. Nearly one thousand people were killed in a stampede and attacks as thousands of Shiite Muslims gathered near a sacred shrine (AFP)