Iraqis are holding funerals for hundreds of Shi'ite pilgrims killed Wednesday in a stampede during a religious procession across a Baghdad bridge.
Many of the dead were taken to the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf for burial. Iraq's Health Ministry says 965 people were killed, and officials say more bodies are being pulled out of the Tigris River beneath the bridge. But the VOA correspondent in Baghdad says some Iraqi officials and U.S. military personnel are questioning details of the incident. She reports that Iraq's ministries of defense and interior are investigating to find out exactly what happened.
Some officials say the death toll may have been exaggerated. Officials say the stampede started when someone in the massive crowd of pilgrims yelled that there was a suicide bomber among them.