Iraqi Shiite pilgrims flagellate themsel

Karbala, IRAQ: Iraqi Shiite pilgrims flagellate themselves in the southern city of Karbala, 21 March 2006. Hundreds of thousands of Shiites, many ritually beating themselves, rallied for a pilgrimage in southern Iraq as more corpses of men tortured and shot to death turned up in the capital of a country which Monday slipped into its fourth year at war. Officials said that 500,000 pilgrims a day have been streaming in and out of Karbala, 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Baghdad, where the commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Mohammed and a key figure for the Shiite community, reached its peak today. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)