Archive - Aug 31, 2005

Headlines (6:15)
At least 800 Shiite Iraqi's died today during a stampede on a bridge over the Tigris River. The crowds were traveling to a religious ceremony in Northern Baghdad when people started frantically running because of rumors that a suicide bomber was about to detonate a bomb. People were trampled over while others began jumping over the bridge into the river. Eventually the bridge fell. Many of the dead are women and children. The Shiites were celebrating the martyr Musa Al-Kadhim, a religious symbol among Shiites.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafaari declared three days of national mourning for the dead. The stampede comes as tensions between different religious groups are high amidst disagreements over the Iraqi constitution.