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Iraq Reports Nearly 700 Pilgrims Killed in Baghdad Stampede
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(http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=ECE4C9:3919ACA

More than 300 injured after panicked pilgrims crushed railing and
plunged into river after rumor spread that suicide bomber was in crowd





Victims lay in a hospital corridor in BaghdadIraq's health ministry
says nearly 700 Shi'ite pilgrims have been killed Wednesday in a
stampede as pilgrims crossed a Baghdad bridge to a shrine in the
capital.

Officials say panic swept through the crowd after a rumor spread that
suicide bombers were among the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.

Officials say most of the dead are women, children and the elderly,
who were either trampled or shoved to their deaths in the Tigris River
below. More than 300 people were reported injured, and the death toll
could rise.

Earlier, insurgents fired mortars near the Khadimiyah mosque, killing
at least seven people.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has declared three days of national
mourning.

Tensions have been high among Iraq's main religious and ethnic
communities in recent weeks as they haggled over the draft
constitution.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.