SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Thousands of people attended the Arbaeen pilgrimage in the holy city of Karbala on Monday amid tight security measures.
Arbaeen marks the end of the 40-day mourning period for the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammed, by the forces of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD.
The annual pilgrimage usually sees millions of worshippers, mostly Iraqis and Iranians, converge on the central city of Karbala on foot.
Some 14 million attended in 2019, according to official figures, a third of them foreigners who came mostly from Iran, the Gulf, Pakistan and Lebanon.
Iraqi authorities said they would only allow 70,000 foreigners to attend the pilgrimage this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Iraq recently doubled the quota of the Iranians, who could travel to the country to attend the ceremony, from 30,000 to 60,000.
Another 10,000 pilgrims would be from Gulf and Arab countries as well as the rest of the world, according to Iraq’s health and security committee.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi arrived in Karbala in the early hours of Monday to oversee the security situation in the city.
He held a meeting with security commanders in Karbala, saying “your eyes must remain open, not lose sight of any suspicious movement,” Kadhimi’s office said in a statement.
Arbaeen is marked 40 days after the Shia commemoration of Ashura.
Millions of pilgrims thronged Karbala last month for that event, ignoring Covid-19 fears. Health authorities have expressed alarm at similar gatherings during the pandemic.
Iraq, a country of around 40 million, has officially recorded almost two million Covid-19 cases and more than 22,000 deaths since the start of its outbreak.
