Baghdad stampede kills hundreds:

...Rumors of a suicide bomber helped set off a stampede Wednesday among tens of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims on a Tigris River bridge, killing at least 637 people as panicked worshipers hurled themselves off the bridge or trampled others underfoot, Iraqi authorities and survivors said.

The stampede was the single deadliest loss of life during the 2 ½-year Iraq war. While the disaster was not directly caused by attacks, tensions had been high because of an insurgent mortar-and-rocket attack upon pilgrims earlier in the day that killed seven. Crowding at checkpoints set up on the bridge to search pilgrims for bombs also directly contributed to the disaster, authorities and witnesses said.

...Members of the Mahdi Army militia stood guarding the belongings later in the afternoon. One Mahdi Army militiaman called out to passing pilgrims still streaming toward the shrine hours after the disaster, telling them not to take any food or water on the Sunni side of the bridge in case it were poisoned.

Many survivors and security officials blamed the Shiite security for the disaster, however....

Posted by Laura at August 31, 2005 12:07 PM