BAGHDAD, Feb. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- An unmanned U.S. drone made an emergency landing on Tuesday night in the Shiite's Sadr neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

   The unarmed plane had lost contact with its base shortly after taking off from Taji, some 30 km north of Baghdad, at about 10:30p.m. (1930 GMT) on Tuesday, the military said in a statement.

   The plane was conducting support operation for the Iraqi security forces ahead of Thursday's ceremony of Ashura, the statement added.

   Ashura is a major Shiite religious ceremony, which commemoratesthe death of the Imam Hussein.

   Iraqi forces were on high alert and stepped up security measures in Baghdad and the southern holy city of Karbala on Wednesday to prevent possible insurgent attacks on a large gathering of Shiite Muslims for the event.  Enditem