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At least 40 people were killed and 68 injured in two bomb attacks Monday in the Shi’a holy city of Karbala, Iraq as large crowds gathered to celebrate the birth of the Twelfth Shi’i Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi. Both explosions took place some 4 km from the centre of the city located some 118 km from the capital Baghdad. News reports state that a suicide bomber and a car bomb are responsible for the deaths and injuries. In addition, the Baghdad office of the al-Arabiyya satellite television was heavily damaged.

The bomb attacks serve to highlight the continuing deaths of Shi’i Muslims, particularly in the places which they revere the most – the shrines of the Imams. Karbala represents a long and sad history of bloodshed and massacre when Husayn b. Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was brutally killed (along with his companions and children) by the Ummayyad caliph, Yazid b. Muawiyah, in 61/680. There is no place for political agendas, radicalism and terrorism in humanity’s conscience. At the least, there should be respect for holy figures, their visitors, the people who inhabit the city and the innocent children who go about their lives with no hatred for anyone. Here, religion is secondary and those who have perpetrated the attacks represent inhumanity and injustice.

For further information on the attacks, please visit:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Bombings-kill-40-Shia-pilgrims-in-Iraq/articleshow/6221715.cms

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10767867

The Centre for Islamic Shi’a Studies

July 27th 2010