Iraq forces pass major test during pilgrimage

Iraq's first major religious festival since U.S. troops pulled out of its cities ended largely peacefully on Saturday, officials said, a sign Iraqi forces may have passed a first serious solo test.

Over the weekend, millions of pilgrims, mostly dressed in black, streamed to the golden domed Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in northern Baghdad, site of some of the deadliest attacks on Iraqi civilians since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Police and troops were deployed heavily across the main routes leading to the shrine and where the commemorations were taking place.

"This is the first 100 percent Iraqi security plan. The forces are Iraqi, even the helicopters," said Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi.

Guarding the ceremonies, which are due to finish by the afternoon, was a key test for Iraq's police and army after they took over full control from American forces of security in the country's urban centers at the end of June.

"In previous years there has been a great deal of violence which prevented us from visiting the shrine," Adnan Abu Hussein, a pilgrim from Babil province in central Iraq, told AFP.

"But this year the security situation has improved; there haven't been any incidents so I've been able to come for the first time with my friends," the 41-year-old said, with his wife and children nearby.

The Iraqi army has called in open-top trucks to ferry pilgrims from the shrine back to their home cities across the country later Saturday.

"We have been receiving visitors for the fourth consecutive day and their numbers are in the millions," Fadhil al-Ambari, the shrine's custodian, said, noting that visitors from Arab and other countries were among the pilgrims.

Three killed in attacks

Despite intensive security, some bombers made it through.

A spate of bombings on Friday killed three pilgrims and wounded 38.

On Thursday, eight pilgrims including three women were wounded by a bomb in central Baghdad, a security official said.

National elections loom in January, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has staked his reputation on security and the gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The site has been surrounded by three rings of security personnel to search each pilgrim, and helicopters patrol overhead.

Cameras on air balloons monitored the site, the surveillance provided by the U.S. military at Iraq's request.

We have been receiving visitors for the fourth consecutive day and their numbers are in the millions

Fadhil al-Ambari

Such religious gatherings are often targeted by Sunni militants like al- Qaeda, which considers Shiites heretics. In April, two suicide bombers killed 60 people outside the shrine.

During the pilgrimage in 2005, rumors of a bombing on the Bridge of the Imams, leading to the shrine, triggered a stampede that killed 1,000, clogging the river below with bodies.

The incident was the deadliest since 2003. The bridge, which connects Sunni and Shiite areas of Baghdad, reopened last year.

The commemorations come less than three weeks after U.S. troops withdrew from urban centers in line with a landmark security pact between Baghdad and Washington that calls for American forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in the last year, but there was a spike in attacks during the June U.S. withdrawal.