A guard secures the shrine entrance
© AFP/File Ahmad al-Rubaye BAGHDAD (AFP) - The improved security prompted Wifaq Aziz, an Iraqi refugee living in Iran, to join up to a million pilgrims descending on the capital this week for Tuesday's commemoration of a revered imam who died 12 centuries ago.
Relaxed and grinning broadly outside the Kadhimiyah mosque, Aziz said he was pleased to be home after 20 years living abroad to escape the regime of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and the violence after the 2003 US-led invasion.
"Before I could not come to Baghdad, but now I can come easily," Aziz, 32, told AFP as he held his two-year-old daughter in his arms just outside the golden-domed mosque, the burial site of the Shiite imam Mussa Kadhim.
"I'm so happy to be here, it just fills my soul with joy to be able to make this pilgrimage," Aziz said.
An Iraqi policeman stads guard
© AFP Ahmad al-RubayeShiites will congregate at the Kadhimiyah mosque to mourn Khadim's death, believed to have been poisoned in Baghdad in the late eighth century by agents of the then-ruling Sunni caliph, Harun al-Rashid.
The gathering is a time for prayer and celebration with relatives and friends, but with the tens of thousands of people expected, it also poses a threat to security gains made in Baghdad over the past six months.
Although systematic violence -- suicide bombings and sectarian killings -- have dropped sharply in the capital since a peak in 2006, Iraqi police were taking no chances despite the semblance of normalcy on Baghdad streets.
An extra 5,000 police and soldiers have been deployed in Kadhimiyah, the northwestern district of Baghdad where the mosque is located, setting up multiple checkpoints.
"There is more than a full brigade deployed in the vicinity, entrances and exits of the city, and in the surrounding areas of Kadhimiyah city, for fear of attacks," a defence ministry source told AFP.
A woman enters the Imam Musa al-Kadhim shrine
© AFP Ahmad al-RubayeAs pilgrims sought protection from Baghdad's scorching heat on shady sidewalks, chatting, eating and sipping tea, one long-time store owner in the neighbourhood hailed the improvements but also recalled the potential dangers.
On August 31, 2005, at least 965 people died in a stampede at a Baghdad bridge seen as a symbol of Kadhim's death, triggered by rumours that a suicide bomber was in their midst and following a mortar attack on the mosque that killed seven people.
"All the stores on the street next to us were destroyed," said Yussef Musawy, 38, a gold merchant as he recalled with horror the scenes of death and carnage of that day.
Major General Kassam Atta, spokesman for city security, told reporters that his force had information regarding the possibility of attacks targeting pilgrims during this year's festival.
"We ask people to help in all ways with our security forces," Atta said, adding that up to one million people were expected.
Soldiers have cordoned off the northern Baghdad district, not allowing traffic in, while pedestrians -- especially women -- were being subjected to strict security searches, an AFP report witnessed.
A boy is searched
© AFP Ahmad al-Rubaye"I don't mind being searched," said one woman who had just stepped through a checkpoint. "It is for the good of us all."
The stepped-up measures came as levels of violence nationwide hit a four-year low, even though a woman suicide bomber attacked a Sunni Arab security patrol on Thursday in central Baquba, killing eight people.
But with weapons banned in much of Kadhimiyah and even cell phones not allowed inside the mosque, pilgrims and residents said they felt much safer than before.
"Security is much, much better than last year," said Diya Mohammed al-Anssary, 68, who travelled by bus with one of his four wives from Diwaniyah, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad.
"I'm not afraid," said Anssary, who like so many Iraqis, said he spent time in jail when Saddam was in power.
For Aziz, the refugee from Iran, the improved security meant it was time to risk returning to Baghdad and its six million residents. "I'm in the middle of making preparations now so we can return home," he said.
©AFP