Holy Shiite City

More than 30 pilgrims were killed and dozens injured Tuesday in a stampede at a major shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala on the Shiite holy day of Ashura.

An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale hit near Iran's Shiite Muslim holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, local media reported.

Iranian pilgrims at a Shiite holy site near the city of Qom intervened against the distribution of leaflets opposing Tehran's nuclear talks with world powers, state news agency IRNA reported today.

The holy Shiite city of Najaf has gained prominence as a centre of political and military power since the start of a crisis that has raised the spectre of Iraq breaking up along sectarian and ethnic lines.

A suicide bomber struck a crowd of Shiite worshippers who packed a Kabul mosque Tuesday to mark a holy day, killing at least 56 people, and a second bombing in another city killed four more Shiites. They were the first major sectarian assaults since the fall of the Taliban a decade ago.

A series of blasts hit a Shiite holy city in Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding scores of others. A local resident said he feared the attacks were another attempt by Sunni insurgents to ignite sectarian violence in the country.

A twin car bombing on Friday tore through a crowd of Shiite pilgrims packing a highway as they walked to a holy city south of Baghdad for a major religious observance, killing at least 35 people.

More than 30 pilgrims were killed and dozens injured Tuesday in a stampede at a major shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala on the Shiite holy day of Ashura.

An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale hit near Iran's Shiite Muslim holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, local media reported.

Iranian pilgrims at a Shiite holy site near the city of Qom intervened against the distribution of leaflets opposing Tehran's nuclear talks with world powers, state news agency IRNA reported today.

The holy Shiite city of Najaf has gained prominence as a centre of political and military power since the start of a crisis that has raised the spectre of Iraq breaking up along sectarian and ethnic lines.

A suicide bomber struck a crowd of Shiite worshippers who packed a Kabul mosque Tuesday to mark a holy day, killing at least 56 people, and a second bombing in another city killed four more Shiites. They were the first major sectarian assaults since the fall of the Taliban a decade ago.

A series of blasts hit a Shiite holy city in Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding scores of others. A local resident said he feared the attacks were another attempt by Sunni insurgents to ignite sectarian violence in the country.

A twin car bombing on Friday tore through a crowd of Shiite pilgrims packing a highway as they walked to a holy city south of Baghdad for a major religious observance, killing at least 35 people.