Dozens die in holy day crush

PART of a walkway collapsed as tens of thousands of people celebrated Ashoura in Iraq, causing a stampede and killing at least 31 pilgrims on one of the most sacred religious holy days for the Shiite sect, officials said.

Around 100 others were injured in the incident, which occurred toward the end of the Ashoura procession, causing a panicked rush, according to two officials speaking from the city of Karbala.

Hundreds of thousands of people converge on the holy city, some 50 miles south of Baghdad, for the occasion every year.