(MENAFN- The Peninsula) From across Iraq and neighbouring states, millions of Shia pilgrims are heading this week to the city of Kerbala for a religious ceremony that authorities say radical Sunni fighters are targetting for attack.
Already hundreds of thousands of Shia faithful, many from adjacent Iran, have visited Kerbala for rituals which culminate in Saturday's Arbain holy day - the last of 40 days' mourning for the death in battle of Imam Hussein 13 centuries ago. Roads and highways across Iraq have been filled with black-clad pilgrims heading on foot to Kerbala, a journey which can take days, carrying banners bearing Hussein's image. Arbain, a defining ritual of Shia Islam and its rift with Sunnism, has frequently triggered militant attacks. This year it unfolds for the first time since Islamic State Sunni Muslim fighters seized control of much of north and west Iraq.
"We have information that they will try to infiltrate crowds of pilgrims and kill civilians everywhere," Shia Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said this week during a visit to Kerbala, about 80km south-west of Baghdad.
Abadi said security forces would thwart any attempt to disrupt Arbain, but they face a double challenge.
Not only are many troops diverted to tackle Islamic State fighters elsewhere - forcing authorities to rely more heavily on Shia militia to keep order - but this year's flood of foreign visitors has been swollen by Iraq's decision to ease visa requirements for Arbain pilgrims.
An immigration official said visa fees had been waived and video from the Shalamja border crossing with Iran, 15km east of Basra, has shown thousands of people pouring across as the gates open every day. Speaking on Tuesday, a senior border official said 200,000 Iranians had already crossed, initially overwhelming his staff.
"This is the first time in the history of this border crossing that we've had such intensity," said an official.
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