A rush in a mausoleum left 31 dead in Iraq

At least 31 people died and nearly a hundred were injured in a scramble in the mausoleum of Imam Husein of the Iraqi city of Kerbala, in a tragedy that shocked the Muslim world.

The sad episode occurred during the celebration of Ashura, the most important religious holiday for Shiites.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported in a statement that at least ten of the wounded are in serious condition and warned that the number of casualties could increase in the next few hours because this is a preliminary figure.

For the time being we do not know what caused the disruption in this city in central Iraq, about 110 kilometers south of Baghdad.

The event happened while dozens of thousands of people participated in the central ceremony to commemorate the death of Imam Husein, in the presence of Iraqi worshipers and visitors from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kuwait, Syria and Lebanon, said a spokesman local police.

The holiday is celebrated amid strict security measures, with the deployment of army troops, police, air force and pro-government Popular Crowd militia, but nothing all this prevented the tragedy.

The central celebration of Ashura in Iraq took place in Kerbala, but religious and festive events were also held in at least a dozen places, including the holy cities of Najaf and Samarra.

Despite being the majority community in Iraq, Shiites are a minority within Islam and they represent about 10% of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world.