KARBALA, April 11: Tens of thousands of Shia pilgrims headed home on Sunday after Chehlum overshadowed by a rally in support of the Shia leader. Several hundred thousand pilgrims from Iraq and Iran had thronged the street of Karbala for Chehlum.

Amid fears of repeated bloodshed, the atmosphere in Karbala was tense, more so after a week of fierce clashes around the city between US-led forces and fighters loyal to Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

Amid the security concerns, attendance at the congregation was sharply down on estimates that up to four million people would gather. By afternoon, the narrow streets of Karbala were emptying, with pilgrims - some of whom slept in the open for several nights - packing up their belongings and saying final prayers in the two mosques that form the centrepiece of the holy city.

Huge traffic jams blocked the roads out of Karbala, 110 km southwest of Baghdad, as a sea of cars and buses filled with passengers headed off to the north and south of Iraq and towards the border with Iran.

Iraqi police, whom US-led forces had previously entrusted with keeping order during the Chehlum, were not seen in Karbala after this week's clashes. Shia militias and local guards, some employed by the religious authorities, were patrolling streets. -Reuters