(ANSA) - Pope Benedict XVI voiced his "deep sorrow" on Thursday over the deaths of over 900 Shia Muslim Iraqis in a panic-stricken stampede in Baghdad.
In a message sent to the Catholic nunzio in Baghdad on the day after the tragedy in the Iraqi capital, the pope called on people of all faiths to stand together against violence.
"All believers in the one God must unite in deploring every form of violence and cooperate in restoring harmony in the troubled land of Iraq," he said.
Benedict, whose like his predecessor opposed the war in Iraq, said he was praying for a climate of reconciliation and reciprocal trust in the country. At least 965 people were killed and hundreds injured on Wednesday morning when rumours of a suicide bomber provoked a wild stampede in a procession of Shia pilgrims as they crossed a bridge in northern Baghdad.
Most of the dead were crushed or suffocated but many drowned after they fell or jumped into the Tigris River. The disaster was the deadliest single incident in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion. Iraqi government officials say the death toll could reach as high as 1,000.
