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Page last updated at 13:30 GMT, Saturday, 18 July 2009 14:30 UK

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In pictures: Iraqi Shia festival

The Imam Moussa al-Kadhim mosque in Baghdad

Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslim pilgrims have thronged northern Baghdad for the festival marking the death of the seventh Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.

Pilgrims at the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim mosque, Baghdad

The pilgrims headed to the shrine of the imam in the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah.

Pilgrims near the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim mosque in Baghdad

Pilgrims carried a replica coffin of the imam, who was jailed for four years and then poisoned by then ruler Harun al-Rashid in 795.

Shoes are shed at the mosque entrance. The festival has been targeted in the past by insurgents but there have been no major incidents so far.

Shia-Sunni violence has reduced in recent years, although a Sunni tribal leader survived a roadside bombing near Falluja on Saturday that killed three others.

Security at the Shia festival in Baghdad

This is the first time Iraqi forces have taken full control of security at the festival, following the US pull-back from urban centres last month.

Pilgrims at the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim mosque in Baghdad, 17 July

Pilgrims had travelled from all over Iraq - and bedded down overnight for Saturday.

Rituals were held overnight - here visiting Pakistani Shias slap their chests.

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