The Iraqi city of Karbala Attracted 22 Million Pilgrims this Year

He did not detail the circumstances of the crash but said most of the dead were Shiite Muslim pilgrims from Iran. Almost exactly a year ago, on Sept. 11, 11 Iranian Shiite pilgrims and their local driver died when their minibus collided with a truck in Babil province, south of Baghdad, a health official said at the time. Millions of Shiite pilgrims, many of them from Iran, head each year to the holy shrine city of Karbala for Arbaeen, one of the world's biggest religious gatherings.