BAGHDAD, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims on Wednesday gathered at the climax of a religious ritual at the holy golden-domed shrine in northern the Iraqi capital of Baghdad amid tightened security measures.
Every year, on the very date of the Islamic calendar, the Shiites gather at the mausoleum of Imam Musa al-Kadhim in Baghdad' s northern district of Kadhmiyah to commemorate the death of the seventh of the most revered 12 Shiite Imams.
During the past few days, large crowds of pilgrims from Iraqi cities and some Muslim countries flocked to the mausoleum in Kadhmiyah to observe the annual commemoration of the Imam's death.
According to Iraq's official estimates, more than five million pilgrims visited the shrine by the end of the event, which culminated on Tuesday and ended on Wednesday.
Processions of pilgrims kept pouring into the shrine on foot or by bus from Baghdad's neighborhoods, as well as cities across the country and from outside Iraq.
Dozens of tents were set up on the streets to serve water, food and medication to pilgrims who were marching to the holy site in the scorching weather.
Tens of thousands of black-clad men and women of different ages gathered before noon at a plaza outside the mausoleum and took part in the Imam's symbolic coffin funeral, beating their chests and heads in honor of the Imam who was poisoned to death while in prison in the year 977 AD, during the Abbasid era.
During the days of the religious event, the Iraqi authorities tightened security measures as dozens of thousands of Iraqi security troops manned dozens of checkpoints and patrolled the routes of the worshippers across Baghdad and the main roads leading to the capital, while army helicopters hovered overhead.
A traffic ban, including bicycles and motorcycles, was imposed inside and around the district of Kadhmiyah and the troops blocked many roads leading to the main routes of the pilgrims across the capital in addition to blocking all the entrances to the holy site. Only pedestrians were allowed, but they had to cross several rings of security checkpoints.
"The security plan included setting up three security rings around Kadhmiyah in addition to the aerial reconnaissance by helicopters," Abdul-Kareem al-Dhrib, head of the security committee of Baghdad Provincial Council, told reporters.
Recently, violence across Iraq was at the highest level since 2008, raising fears that the terrorist group and other militia could return to widespread violence.
The ritual also came amid escalation of sectarian tension between the Sunni and Shiite communities, which has been at its peak since the U.S. troops pulled out from the country at the end of 2011. For five months, the Sunni Muslims have been carrying protests against the Shiite-led government in the Sunni provinces and the Sunni districts in Baghdad.
The Sunnis accuse the government of marginalizing them, and claim that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces were indiscriminately arresting their sons and torturing them.
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