Iraq – An Iraqi provincial police chief denied reports on Wednesday that 11 pilgrims travelling to the holy Shia city of Karbala for a religious festival were kidnapped.

‘No such incident was registered, no accident like this happened and nothing like this was reported since the start of the security operation (four days ago),’ Babylon police chief Major General Fadl Raddad Al Sultani said.

‘We have deployed 18,000 security officers, and today, 2,000 more people arrived to protect pilgrims.’

Tens of thousand of Shias are expected to converge on Karbala, 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Baghdad, for Friday’s ceremonies commemorating the birth of Imam Mahdi (a.s)

Hilla police Lieutenant Kadhim Al Salami earlier said 11 pilgrims and their minibus driver were kidnapped by gunmen in Babylon province on the way to Karbala.