BAGHDAD, Aug. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 650 people were killed and 235 injured after a suicide bomb panic triggered stampede on a bridge over the Tigris in Baghdad on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "Someone among the people walking on the Aaimma bridge in al-Aadhamiya district suddenly shouted 'there is a suicide bomber on the bridge.' Then lots of people on the bridge panicked and they pushed each other and jumped into the Tigris. At least 650 people died because of drowning and stampede and the death toll will probably rise," the source said on condition of anonymity.

    About 1 million pilgrims from many parts of Baghdad and other provinces gathered near the Imam Mousa al-Kadim shrine in the capital's Kazimiyah district for the annual commemoration of the death of the seventh of the most sacred 12 Shiite Imams.

    At the time of the tragedy, a huge number of people were rallying and marching toward the mosque.

    Earlier in the day, five Iraqi civilians were killed and at least 36 wounded when mortar rounds landed in different areas in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua. Enditem