Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims on Tuesday marked Ashura in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala, the burial place of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
The emotional event commemorates the 7th century battlefield martyrdom of Hussein whom Shias view as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed.
To mourn his death in the year 680, Shia worshipers wearing black cry and beat their chests in unison and some flagellate themselves with swords and knife-edged chains.
