Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq 

Pilgrims wave religious and Iraqi flags as they attend the ceremony of Ashura in Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad Jan. 19, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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    BAGHDAD, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shiite Muslims rallied for a major religious ceremony of Ashura on Saturday amid heavy security measures after gunmen attacked pilgrims and security forces in two southern cities.

    Iraqi Shiite pilgrims and thousands others from neighboring Iran thronged into Karbala, some 110 km south of Baghdad, to commemorate Ashura marking the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, who was killed and buried in the city in 680 AD.

    Waving green, black and red flags, the black-clad pilgrims walked in processions through the holy city. Some pilgrims beat their chests, performed self-flagellation with chains, or slashed their heads with swords to mourn the pain of Hussein's martyrdom.

    Some 25,000 Iraqi security members, backed by Iraqi helicopters, along with hundreds of civilian guards, recruited by Shiite clerics, were deployed in and around the city of Karbala to protect the worshippers, according to security officials.

    Tight security measures were also imposed in the other Shiite dominated cities in southern Iraq to protect the worshippers, but clashes still erupted in Basra and Nassiriya on Friday between Iraqi security forces and members of the so-called "Soldiers of Heaven," leaving dozens of people dead and dozens others injured, according to security and health sources.

    Sporadic clashes continued from late Friday night till Saturday dawn in Nassiriya, the capital of Dhi Qar province, when Iraqi security forces raided the main office of a cult, led by Ahmed al-Hassani al-Yamani, who claims to be an ambassador of Imam Mahdi, an eighth century Imam who vanished as a boy and whom Shiites believe will return to bring justice to the world.

    A statement by the Iraqi Prime Minister Office said on Saturday that Basra and Nassiriya are under control of the Iraqi security forces after detaining a number of "heretics" who attacked the Ashura processions and tried to seize a government building in Basra, along with attacking the security forces in Nassiriya.

    The statement said that the heretics were planning to assassinate the most revered Shiite clerics in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

    On Friday, security and health sources in Nassiriya said that up to 50 people were killed and some 70 others were wounded in the city, some 390 km south of Baghdad.

    Among the dead were Colonel Naji Rostam al-Jabiry, commander of Nassiriya's emergency troops, and Colonel Zamil Bader al-Romadl, deputy chief of the provincial intelligence department.

    The "Soldiers of Heaven" also launched on Friday an attack on police in the southern city of Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, leaving dozens of gunmen killed or captured, Col. Abdul Kareem al-Zaidi told Xinhua.

    Abu Mustafa al-Ansary, a leader of the militant group, was killed in the clash while three policemen also lost their lives, said Zaidi.

    During last year's Ashura ceremony, the "Soldiers of Heaven" cult fought a major battle with Iraqi and U.S. security forces in the Zargah area near the holy city of Najaf, where some 300 heretics of the cult were killed, many of them were women and children.