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Ashura is a traditional annual event for Shia Muslims. On the 2nd March 2004 the Ashura processions in Kerbala and Baghdad were attacked by a dozen suicide bombers. There were also attacks in Pakistan. The New Zealand Herald reports 271 deaths in Iraq, while the Guardian reports 223 dead (see below).
The lack of media coverage compared to the bombings in Madrid on 11th March can be explained partly by the fact that atrocities of this kind have become common in Iraq. But it is clear that attacks on civilians in Europe and the USA are seen as more newsworthy, or important, than similar attacks in places such as Iraq.
Cuttings:
Shi'ites and Sunnis gather in Baghdad to reject revenge
Sunni and Shi'ite leaders stood side by side in Baghdad on Wednesday to urge Iraqis to avoid a civil war after suicide attacks on a holy day killed scores of Shi'ite worshippers.
The head of Iraq's Governing Council said on Wednesday that the death toll from the attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala had risen to 271. (New Zealand Herald, 4 Mar 2004)
Festival time in Iraq. But by the end of the day 220 lay dead
Iraq yesterday suffered its worst day of violence since the war's end, when its majority Shia community was targeted in a series of sophisticated and simultaneous attacks that killed as many as 223 people and left its religious leaders blaming the Americans for multiple security failures. (Guardian, 3 Mar 2004)
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