Iraq stampede deaths near 1,000
Almost 1,000 people are known to have died in a stampede of Shia pilgrims in northern Baghdad, Iraqi health officials have said.
So far, there have been at least 965 confirmed deaths, making the incident the single biggest loss of Iraqi life since the US-led invasion in 2003.
The incident happened on a river bridge as about a million Shias marched to a shrine for a religious festival.
Witnesses said panic spread over rumours of suicide bombers.
Radical Sunni groups have often targeted Shias in the past, but Iraqi officials said the tragedy had nothing to do with sectarian tension.
Many victims, mostly women, children or elderly, were crushed or drowned.
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