The Ashoura Massacre was a series of planned terrorist explosions, that killed 170 and injured 500 Iraqi Shiite Muslims commemorating the Ashoura festival. The bombings, all on March 2nd, 2004 brought one of the deadliest days in the Iraq occupation, after the Iraq War to topple Saddam Hussein. Terrorism is a controversial term with multiple definitions. ... Shi‘as (the adjective in Arabic is شيعى shi‘i; English has traditionally used Shiite) which mean follower in Arabic make up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%-35% of all Muslim. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... The Day of Aashurah, sometimes spelled ‘Ashurah or Aashoorah, falls on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar. ... March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article deals with the post-invasion period in Iraq and its occupation. ... The 2003 invasion of Iraq, also called Operation Iraqi Freedom, was launched by the United States and the United Kingdom on March 20, 2003, with minor assistance from a loosely defined coalition. ... Saddam Hussein Saddām Hussein Ê»Abd al-MajÄ«d al-TikrÄ«t, spelled Husayn or Hussain; Arabic صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي; born April 28, 1937 1) was President of Iraq from 1979 until his removal by coalition forces in 2003. ...

Al Qaeda is the group believed to be responsible for the attack, and it is also believed that their intent was to cause much more destruction than actually occurred. Nine explosions were detonated in Karbala, accompanied by mortar, grenade, and rocket fire, killing over 100 people, while three explosions near the Kazimiya shrine in Baghdad killed 58 more. Osama bin Laden Ayman al-Zawahiri Al-Qaeda (Arabic: - al-Qā‘idah, the foundation or the base) is the name given to an international alliance of militant Islamist organizations. ... The Mashad al-Husain, Karbala Karbalā (كربلاء; also transliterated as Kerbala or Kerbela) is a city in Iraq, located about 100 km southwest of Baghdad at 32. ... A street map of Baghdad Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and the Baghdad Province. ...

Though the attack involved armed squads, car bombs, and up to a dozen suicide bombers, there was also an explosive-laden vehicle which was apprehended while attempting to enter Basra, as were two suicide bombers in Karbala and others in Baghdad who had entered via Syria. The armed squads included rocket crews and small arms fire which was meant to both kill those wounded by the blasts as well as trap those trying to flee the carnage. A suicide bombing is a bomb attack on people or property, committed by a person who knows the explosion will cause his or her own death (see suicide, suicide weapons). ... Location of Basra Basra (also spelled BaÅŸrah or Basara; historically sometimes written Busra, Busrah, and the early form Bassorah; Arabic: , Al-Basrah) is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of c. ...

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the American commander in Baghdad, blamed Abu Musab Zarqawi for the attacks, but it has since been revealed that his field commander in Iraq, Abu Abdallah al Hassan Ben Mahmoud, directed the attacks. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a highly influential Shiite in Iraq, blamed the US for allowing the attacks to occur, and by doing so helped to provoke Shiite-Sunni violence against one another. Brigadier General Mark T. Kimmitt, US Army, is the spokesman for the US military in Iraq. ... A street map of Baghdad Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and the Baghdad Province. ... Abu Musab al_Zarqawi in one of eight photos from Rewards for Justice, all undated. ... Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini Sistani (Arabic: السيد علي الحسيني السيستاني Persian: سید علی حسینی سیستانی), born approximately August 4, 1930, is a Grand Ayatollah, a Shia marja and currently an important person in relation to the occupation of Iraq. ...