Scores injured as Shia pilgrims stampede in Baghdad

The Al-Kadhimiya Mosque, a Shia shrine located in the Kadhimiya suburb of Baghdad, Iraq [Muhammad Mahdi Karim / Wikipedia]

Scores of Shia pilgrims were injured in a stampede in Baghdad on Sunday, panicked by rumours a suicide bomber was about to blow himself up, according to an Iraqi police officer.

A visitor began to tear his clothes in Kadhimiya area in northern Baghdad after losing his daughter in the crowd, making the pilgrims believe he was a bomber trying to detonate his explosive vest, Police Captain Ahmed Khalaf told Anadolu Agency.

“Scores of people, including children and elders, were injured in the stampede,” he said.

Khalaf said Iraqi forces have managed to control the situation.

In 2005, more than 1,000 people were killed in a deadly stampede in Baghdad after rumours about a suicide bomber in the area.

Read: 3 Iraqi policemen killed in suicide attack south of Mosul

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