Vehicle ban in Baaquba to protect Shiite processions

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: Police forces imposed a ban on vehicles in Baaquba on Wednesday to protect Shiite processions on the occasion of Ashuraa, the chief of the Diala police said. “All bystreets were closed in Baaquba and a ban on vehicles was imposed to protect Shiite processions started in several regions of Baaquba,” General Abdul Hussein al-Shimri told IraqiNews.com news agency. Shiites commemorates on Muharram 10th, the killing of Imam Hussein Ibn Ali and his brothers and friends, killed in Karbala in the battle of Taf on Muharram 10, 61 (October 10, 680 AD on the Gregorian calendar). The battle of Taf in Karbala witnessed the killing of Imam al-Hussein, his brother, sons, nephews and friends – all numbering 72 – on the 10th of Muharram at the hands of the 30,000-man army of Yazid Ibn Muaawiya, the second caliph in the Umayyad Dynasty that ruled for more than 90 years. Baaquba, the capital of Diala, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad. SH (S) 1