BAGHDAD: Hours after the fatal explosions on Tuesday at the Shia shrine in the Kadhimiya district in downtown Baghdad, the site is still a scene of devastation.

"It was a bloodbath," Hussein Hamid, says a Shia militiamen, who remained unharmed. "I saw torn-off limbs, a little girl without a head, everywhere blood and screaming people." He will never forget the images.

Hours after the blasts the guards at the holy shrine are now looking for passports and wedding rings - any clue that might help identify the bodies torn apart in the explosion.

Amidst the crowds of pilgrims attending Ashura three suicide attackers had blown themselves up. "The first attacker blew himself up at the gate outside," says Hamid. Pools of dry blood near the entry to the courtyard still show the murderous power of the blast.

"The second then detonated his explosives inside, at the shoe store near the entry to the shrine," Hamid continues. In panic, the crowds headed for the main gate after this blast where the third attacker then triggered the next explosion. "All this happened in less than a minute," says Hamid.

The event was coordinated with another series of attacks 80 kilometres south of the capital in Karbala, the religious centre of Ashura attended by hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims.

Six reported explosions, including one suicide bombing, near the Imam Abbas mosque killed 85 people and injured more than 200. The bloodbath seemed to follow the strategy of Muslim extremists who entered the country after the war and prefer to attack large crowds.

More than 100 people were killed in an attack four weeks ago in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, which was packed at the time with visitors celebrating the start of Eidul Azha.

Many in al-Khadimiya were wondering on Tuesday how the suicide attackers carrying suicide belts and hand grenades succeeded in mingling with the Shia faithful at the shrine.

"The US military and the Iraqi police prevented the local militias from doing their job," an officer of the local Shia Badr Brigade points to the powers of the US-led occupation. "They insisted on taking over the responsibility for security," he adds.

Whether the security lapses are the result of a row over authorities remains to be seen. Voluntary guards of the Shia organizations had been checking visitors for weapons at the entries to the holy sites. However, they did so rather superficially, according to the personal experience of one correspondent for Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Monday night.

On Tuesday, the bombs exploded shortly after 10am local time when the guards and the crowds of people still surrounding the shrine were tired and exhausted. The terror was apparently aimed at inciting the Shia majority, which would dominate Iraq in any democratic system. Nonetheless, reactions in al-Khadimiya showed that some people did not fall for any such strategy.

"They want to split the Iraqi people," Safir Fadhil Abbas, a trader, said, and added: "But, Allah permitting, they will not succeed. We will remain reasonable and strong." -DPA