November 30, 2003, 19:00
Seventeen people were killed today when their bus overturned in southern Iraq as they were returning to Kuwait from the funeral of a top Shi'ite Muslim cleric, state news agency KUNA reported.
The agency quoted Mohammad al-Jarallah, the Kuwaiti Health Minister, as saying that 33 others were injured in the accident near the southern city of Nassiriya, which is located 375km southeast of Baghdad. The injured were taken to three hospitals in Kuwait.
They were part of an original convoy of more than 25 buses that carried hundreds of Shi'ites from Kuwait on Friday for the funeral of religious authority Merza Abdulrasoul al-Haeri al-Ehqaqi. The Kuwaiti cleric's body was taken for burial in the holy city of Kerbala in southern Iraq by family and followers.
KUNA quoted a spokesperson for British forces in southern Iraq as saying that media reports of the convoy being ambushed by guerrillas were not correct.
Ehqaqi was 75 years old when he died on Wednesday in London. Kuwaiti newspapers said he died of an illness of the lungs, but did not elaborate. He had travelled to London for treatment. His followers hail from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. - Reuters
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