Oct 1, 2017

Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims gathered in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala on Sunday for ceremonies marking the seventh-century killing of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson.

Some 25,000 members of the security forces were deployed to protect the pilgrims, who in the past have faced attacks from Sunni extremists including the Islamic State group.

This year's ceremonies were marked by the chanting of slogans against Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, like "Barzani you are the sponsor of dividing the country" and "Don't believe we will ever give you Kirkuk".

Barzani's autonomous region in north

ern Iraq held a referendum on September 25 that saw voters overwhelmingly back independence for Iraqi Kurdistan. The vote was also held in disputed areas like the city of Kirkuk.