On this day of Ashura is a human tidal wave sweeping in Karbala, Iraq, one of the holiest cities of Shi'a Islam. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are celebrating what is for them the largest religious festival. The event is placed under close surveillance for fear of jihadist attacks. The pilgrimage is often overshadowed by the attacks but this year, the fear is of a different magnitude to the threat posed an Islamic state organization. More than 25,000 soldiers and police and 1,500 volunteers were deployed on the road from Baghdad to Karbala, located a hundred kilometers further south.
The festival commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grand-son of the Prophet Muhammad. According to tradition, he was decapitated and his body mutilated, that many of the faithful commemorate by acts of self-flagellation sometimes up to blood.
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