Peace-loving Muslims at it again in Karbala

A Million Pilgrims Told to Leave Karbala
By STEVEN R. HURST
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD — More than 1 million pilgrims were ordered to leave the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Tuesday and police imposed a curfew after two days of violence -- including raging gunbattles between rival militias -- claimed at least 35 lives during a religious festival.

Nearly 200 people were wounded, security officials said, and the government sent reinforcements from Baghdad to quell growing unrest and help clear the city.

Security officials told The Associated Press that Mahdi Army gunmen, loyalists of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, attacked guards around the two Karbala shrines that were under the protection of the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

In telephone calls to reporters in Karbala, gunfire and exploding mortar shells could be heard.

(Continued here.)