Local authorities began evacuating Shia pilgrims from the holy Iraqi city of Kerbala to after fierce clashes between police and gunmen near two revered shrines, police said.
Police said buses had been readied to take pilgrims out of the city while police and army reinforcements were heading toward the shrines. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are in Kerbala for one of the holiest days on the Shia calendar.
Police killed three pilgrims yesterday. Police said they opened fire on a large crowd of pilgrims infuriated by strict security measures in force in the city for the celebrations, killing three and wounding 13. The shots were fired after the pilgrims began brawling with the policemen.
Some 10,000 police officers and 5,000 Iraqi soldiers had been deployed in Kerbala ahead of a ceremony today and tomorrow marking the ninth-century birth of Muhammad al-Mahdi.
Shias believe Mahdi, the last of 12 imams they revere as saints, never died and will return to save mankind.
In Falluja, a town west of Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed ten people when he blew himself up after evening prayers in a mosque yesterday, police said.
The surge in violence came as the United States was pushing for a political accord between Iraqi leaders to reduce sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.