NEWS: Over 635 Killed in Baghdad Stampede

Reports just coming in that over 635 people have been killed in a shi'ite stampede in Baghdad. The Iraqi police have confirmed this number as people threw themselves off a bridge when they believed a suicide bomber was in the midst.



A terrible tragedy. No doubt the death toll will rise further.

[edit on 31-8-2005 by Nerdling]

[edit on 1-9-2005 by John bull 1]

I feel bad for saying this, but that actually made me laugh. So now they dont even have to waste time making a bomb....they can just act like it and kill even more! Oh the efficency of terrorists...never ceases to amaze me.

Where is the link to the source?

Why would 500+ people jump to their own deaths??????!?!

This makes absolutely no sense. Why would one yet five hundred people jump off a cliff, because they think someone is a suicide bomber??? Sure I can see why they would be scared seeing as there are suicide bombers almost every day in IRAQ, but whats the point of killing yourself? Even if a bomb went off there would be a lot less then 500 fatalities.

This was in my inbox:

-- At least 635 people killed, 237 injured as a crowd of Shiite pilgrims stampede on a bridge near a mosque in Baghdad, police say.

Watch CNN or log on to CNN.com... and watch FREE video.
More Americans watch CNN. More Americans trust CNN.

Crazy, this is just crazy..
That headline, is so hard to believe.

Something here.
www.timesonline.co.uk...

here's another link.

www.theage.com.au...

Sick, nasty stuff.

Must be nightmarish to be trapped in a vast crowd with explosions going off and rumors of suicide bombers running wild.

Those ppl did not suicide.
They were pillgrims heading to a mesquit and the bridge fell off.

If it was an accident or not i dunno.

I don't think lemmings have suicide in mind when they stampeded in panic,
but the end result is the same...death.



www.darwinawards.com...

CNN is reporting that somebody in the crowd yelled that there was a suicide bomber in the crowd. That started the panic and the bridge failed.

"Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced a three-day mourning period, and President Jalal Talabani said the stampede "will leave a scar in our souls and will be remembered with those who died in the result of terror acts."

This was a terror attack.

WOW!!!

I can't even comprehend this kind of thing happening...

More bad news, in the states, this won't even be a blip on the radar, as one of our major cities is now in chaos and will likely be wiped off the map within hours....(New Orleans).

That's a real Tragic Event.

And the numbers of the casualties are about to go up.

Iraq stampede toll to hit 1,000-health official

The death toll in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge is expected to reach 1,000, a general manager at Iraq's Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

"An hour ago the death toll was 695 killed, but we expect it to hit 1,000," Dr Jaseb Latif Ali told Reuters.

Reuters

Does anybody know about this Religious Festival that occured today?

Originally posted by Regenmacher
I don't think lemmings have suicide in mind when they stampeded in panic,
but the end result is the same...death.



www.darwinawards.com...

DUDE


the lemming myth was created by disney, there is nothing to it......
www.snopes.com...

Originally posted by Regenmacher
I don't think lemmings have suicide in mind when they stampeded in panic,
but the end result is the same...death.

I wonder what you would do in such a Crowd when Panic Breaks out....

I had no idea that a stampede of people could kill so many. This is truely sad news, if only it could be a world without fear of suicide bombers.

The Kadhimiya mosque

Why would one yet five hundred people jump off a cliff, because they think someone is a suicide bomber???

Why would all those people have thrown themselves out of the WTC? It makes no sense, but people did it. People flee from danger, its the old instincts, fight or flight. Its the same reason why people will run out of a building when its being evacuated in an emergency, even tho they'll get out faster if they all quickly walk out.

Even if a bomb went off there would be a lot less then 500 fatalities.

Mobs don't think.

From The Age article

Two top Iraqi Shi'ite officials accused Islamist militants and loyalists to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of deliberately causing a stampede over a Baghdad bridge in which at least 647 people died.
"We hold the terrorists, Saddamists and radical extremists, responsible for what happened," Ammar al Hakim, a leader in the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said.
Abdul Hadi al Daraji, spokesman for fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, said insurgents had spread rumours there was a suicide bomber in the crowd to cause panic.[...]"Most were women and children," the source said. "Most died by drowning or being trampled on."[...]The crowd of several thousand people was heading for the Kadhimiya mosque for a religious ceremony.
Earlier at least seven people died in three separate mortar attacks on the crowd.[...]The crowd was celebrating the martyrdom of Musa Al-Kadhim, a revered religious figure among Shi'ites.

This mosque has actually been hit with bombing attacks from insurgents before, and this mosque has also sparked up violence before.

Terror on Muharram day March 26, 2004

As in the past when suicide bombings in Iraq have caused large casualties, the people on the scene spontaneously blamed the Americans. In the streets of Baghdad, many believe that the U.S. has a "hidden agenda" - to foment a civil war in the country and that the Israelis are their co-conspirators. Not surprisingly, soon after the attack, a loudspeaker outside the Kadhimiya mosque blared: "This is the work of Jews and American occupation forces."

As far as the festival,
Imam Musa al-Kadhim
Apparenently he's one of the big Imams of "twelver' shia, the 7th Imam, murdered by the caliph of baghdad.

Interesting: I have heard reports about 50 or so people that have died from Poisoning - when they were eating some food in the Mosque. And apparently Imam Musa al-Kadhim also died of poisoning.

Name - Musa
Title - Al-Kadhim
Kunyat - Abu Ibrahim
Born - Sunday 7st of Safarb 128 A.H. , at Abwa (Between Mecca and Medina)
Father's Name - Ja'far ibn Muhammad
Mother's Name - Hamida Khatoon
Died - At the age of 55 years, at Baghdad, on Friday, 25th Rajab 183 AH. Poisoned by Harun-al-Rashid the Abbaside caliph
Buried - Kazmain, Baghdad.

www.shia.org...

What does that have to do with this stampede souljah? Unless they were poisoned in iraq, but next to one of the names it says in saudi arabia.

I can't believe why people would do that. Jump from great hieghts just because they think they are going to die anyways. That's like saying, "You can't kill me if I'm already dead!"

Every year, during the Hajj in Mecca(Devil Stoning), bulkloads of people die in a similar fasion, without thinking there is terrorists around. 250+ people were trampled to death last year. And it wasn't a record number.

For the people here who ask how this can happen and if it is real.
Imagine the Mecca ritual, with a million or more people walking around on a small square, with no moving room, if someone trips and falls, theres no way this person can get up again and he'll be trampled.

Now imagine a slightly lower number of people doing a similar ritual, being scared by a bombthreat.

Stampedes are deadly, no matter how big or small the creature is thats doing the stampede.