Ambushes kill 20 as Shi'ites gather in Baghdad

Gunmen, some on rooftops, ambushed Shi'ite pilgrims walking in their tens of thousands to a sacred shrine for a major festival in Baghdad, killing up to 20 and wounding more than 300, Iraqi officials said.

"Most of the attacks are taking place when pilgrims are crossing the neighbouring areas into Kadhimiya," a health ministry spokesman said, referring to the northern suburb where the shrine is the focal point of the two-day religious ceremony.

Twenty pilgrims were killed and 300 wounded, spokesman Qasim Yahya Allawi said. Heavy security was meant to lower the ever-present danger of sectarian strife at a festival with a bloody history. Last year rumours of a suicide bomber sparked a stampede that killed 1,000 people, mostly women and children.

Clashes were reported in the west and the north of the city and television pictures showed guards on the roof of a government ministry exchanging fire with insurgents.

Iraqi police and the Interior Ministry gave lower death tolls. The ministry said eight pilgrims had been killed and 90 wounded, while a police source said four had died and 23 were hurt. Two policemen were also killed in firefights with gunmen.

After dusk, police reported gunbattles in downtown Baghdad. Police had set up protected corridors to the shrine and urged people to stick to these designated routes. But with huge numbers cramming the roads, many tried to find shortcuts and came under fire instead.

A resident in the mainly Sunni district Waziriya said Shi'ite militiamen fought for several hours with gunmen who had opened fire from rooftops.

Militiamen searching his house told him they had shot dead two.