IRAQ: Iraqi Shia Sajed Kazem knelt on the blood-splattered street near Baghdad's holiest Shia mosque, patiently filling a cooking pot with human flesh.
"These are martyrs," said Kazem, wearing a green headband, one of the volunteers gathering torn and burned body parts left strewn around after three suicide bombers killed 58 people as crowds of Shias marked their holiest day at the gold-domed mosque.
Iraqi police and Shia militiamen brandishing rifles pushed hundreds of dazed onlookers away. Tens of thousands had gathered at the mosque, ritually beating their chests and heads to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad killed in battle more than 13 centuries ago.
"I saw mutilated bodies everywhere," said Haider Zubaidi, a farmer who suffered a broken arm and head injuries and was taken to hospital in a pick-up truck.
Tareq Salman (25) a worker in the Bustan hotel close to the mosque, described the mayhem. "It was a tragedy. There were shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest) and women and men rushed from the scene," he said.
Hundreds of furious youths from Shia militias carrying banners and mourning flags vowed revenge, some calling for random attacks on Sunni areas across the Tigris River.
But despite the rising passions, many Shias said sectarian war between the rival Muslim sects could never erupt as it would never be sanctioned by their clerics. "You should unite, O Muslims," said the Imam of the Kadhimiya mosque an hour after the explosion.
Crowds of Shias - some with pistols and AK-47 rifles - stopped to perform their rituals in front of the Abu Hanifa mosque, but there were no clashes. The residents of Aadhimiya offered the worshipers water and sold them soda and food.
Shocked Iraqis seeking a rationale for the attacks blamed everyone from Sunni fundamentalists to Israeli agents. Some even accused US troops of being behind the attacks, saying Muslims would never commit such a crime. Others said US troops had not done enough to provide protection.
"The Americans are to blame. They are not coming here to provide security. Where is the security? They are only afraid for their lives," said Ayed Sweira.
Over 100kms south of Baghdad, the city of Kerbala was also in the grip of religious fervour, the city packed by two million Shia Muslim pilgrims marking their holiest day when five explosions rent the sacred city asunder.
Many corpses were missing body parts or deeply blackened and yellowed from the heat of the blasts in Kerbala. A man's scalp and ear lay on the ground alongside rotting fruit and a muddied pool of water.
Terrified and sobbing, many people ran for safety. But hundreds of others continued with their religious duties, reciting prayers and performing the closing rituals of Ashura.
Rescuers raced through the streets with bodies laden two or three high onto wooden vegetable carts, desperately searching for a doctor or an ambulance.
Doctors set up a makeshift hospital and treated the wounded as they lay out sweating in the sun. Some were missing limbs or had lost part of their intestines but were breathing and were put on saline drips.
Shias who earlier had gashed open their heads with swords queued up to give blood to the wounded.
Men broke up empty wooden crates to use as splints for broken limbs. One man, his hair burnt off and singed skin peeling from his face, sat staring ahead, unable to speak or move.
A witness said one of the blasts went off as Iranian pilgrims were performing rituals of self-flagellation. "They were beating themselves and then I heard a big explosion from a cart near to them," said Hassan Hadi. "I turned and saw this carnage," he added, pointing to a mass of blood and body parts still lying across the road.
No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts. - (Reuters)