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Iran dispatches 1st batch of relief workers to Iraq

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Khosravi Border, Kermanshah Prov, March 3, IRNA -- Iran dispatched 
the first group of relief workers from its Red Cross Society and 
Kermanshah`s medical centers to Iraq through the Khosravi border. 
On Tuesday, a series of blasts struck a mosque in the Shiite 
district of Kazemein in Baghdad and the holy Shiite city of Karbala 
as the communities were marking Ashura, the Shiite mourning period 
commemorating the killing in 680 AD of Imam Hussein (AS), grandson of 
Islam`s Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). 
Qasr-e Shirin Governor-General Hossein Khosh-Eqbal told IRNA here 
Wednesday that 40 ambulances and a helicopter have been stationed 
in this border checkpoint ready to ferry the wounded as well as the 
bodies of victims of the bombings and mortar attacks in Iraq`s two 
holy cities. 
In Karbala, at least 112 people were killed and 235 wounded. In 
Baghdad, at least 70 people were killed and 321 wounded in explosions 
in a mosque in the Shiite district of Kazemein, located northwest of 
the capital city. 
Qasr-e Shirin`s hospital, he announced, is ready to offer needed 
medical services to the victims. 
Khosh-Eqbal further said no victims or bodies have as yet been 
brought into the country. 
Meanwhile, Iran`s Red Cross Society expressed readiness to help 
in the humanitarian work of ferrying victims and bodies of those 
killed in the bombings into Iran. 
The organization also informed that 200 relief workers are 
currently on full alert in border checkpoints and ready to enter Iraq 
on orders of the Foreign Ministry to help in the rescue and relief 
work. 
SF/LS/210 
End