On Shiites' holiest day, 44 dead in Iraq (2 US troops die)

[rodeodance]

the troops death notice was the last paragraph.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=AtxuFhLBpIw2pWu1kjT4b4XMWM0F;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-


On Shiites' holiest day, 44 dead in Iraq

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Assailants struck Shiite worshippers in three Iraqi cities Tuesday, killing at least 39 people in bombings and ambushes during the climax of ceremonies marking Ashoura, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar. In apparent retaliation, mortar shells slammed into predominantly Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad hours later, killing at least five people and wounding 20, officials said.


Tens of thousands of Shiites Muslims converged on the holy city of Karbala — where the 7th-century battle took place that cemented the schism between Sunnis and Shiites — beating their chest and heads to mark the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson. The entire city was sealed off, all vehicles were banned, and pilgrims were searched at numerous checkpoints, a day after the Iraqi army said it had foiled a plot by a messianic Shiite group to storm the nearby city of Najaf.

T.....
The U.S. military said a Marine was killed Monday in fighting in Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, while an American soldier died in an accident northwest of Nasiriyah.

To the north, a bomb in a garbage can exploded as scores of Shiites — most them Kurds — were performing rituals in Khanaqin, a majority Kurdish city also near the Iranian border. At least 13 people were killed and 39 were wounded, police Maj. Idriss Mohammed said.