BAGHDAD: A fire killed four people in Karbala on Friday as hundreds of thousands of devotees gathered to mark Ashura.

The blaze erupted in an alleyway near the mausoleum of Imam Hussein.

“According to preliminary reports, the fire was sparked by a gas bottle in the kitchen” of a tent and then spread into an adjacent market, an emergency services statement said.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2023