Over 600 people, many of them woman and children have died after a stampede caused by rumours of a suicide bomber amongst them caused the collapse of railings on a bridge on the river Tigris. On one of the main days in the shia muslims calendar, the annual commemoration of the death of the Shiite saint, Imam Mousa al-Kadim, over 1 million people were on their way to visit the saints shrine in the district of Kazimiyah district when mortar attacks were heard.Its believed that it was this that started the rumour of suicide bombers which caused the pilgrims to panic.The deaths occurred on the Aaimma bridge when railings gave way and many people jumped into the river and were drowned.
