Wednesday, August 31, 2005

965 Dead in Baghdad stampede....

With all the (completely deserved) attention paid to Katrina and its aftermath (which gets worse and more terrifying with every report I read) I'm not sure too many people have heard about this story:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/31/iraq.main/index.html

It's quite shocking:

Deaths mounted steadily in northeast Baghdad after a massive midday Shiite religious procession erupted into a chaotic stampede Wednesday, causing the drowning and trampling deaths of 965 pilgrims.

Authorities believe a rumor raced through the crowd that a suicide bomber was in their midst, and that created panic among the waves of pedestrians trying to cross the Al-A'imma bridge over the Tigris River.

Every time I checked this story today, the death toll had increased by HUNDREDS.

Tragic.

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