Pat Dollard | Young Americans

BAGHDAD (AP) - The Iraqi government ordered more than one million pilgrims to leave after two days of violence claimed least 10 lives during a Shiite religious festival. A curfew was also imposed.

Police issued the order for Karbala after heavy shooting broke out in the center of the city Tuesday. Trouble started late Monday when scuffles broke out between police and pilgrims said to have bean angry over strict security.

Gunshots rang out Tuesday in the area near the city’s two major Shiite shrines which are the focal point of celebrations marking the birthday of the 12th and last Shiite imam, who disappeared in the 9th century. The festival was to have reached its high point Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

At least five people were killed in gunfire Tuesday that apparently re-erupted when the Shiite faithful tried to push past frustratingly slow security checkpoints near the Imam al-Hussein mosque.

A member of the city council said the center of town was chaotic with pilgrims running in all directions to escape the gunfire. No one, he said, was sure who was doing the shooting. He said a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near the shrine.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” said the councilman, who would not allow use of his name for security reasons. “All we know is the huge numbers of pilgrims was too much for the checkpoints to handle and now there is shooting.”

Four people - two men and two women - were killed in a similar melee near the mosque Monday night. One of the wounded died overnight. AP Television News pictures from the city, 50 miles south of Baghdad, showed pilgrims running helter-skelter as gunfire, apparently police shooting into the air, rang out through the streets near the mosque.

Meanwhile, AlQaeda gunmen kept up attacks on pilgrims traveling to and from Karbala for the Shabaniyah festival, which marks the birth of Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam who disappeared in the 9th century. Devout Shiites believe he will return to Earth to restore peace and harmony.

A boy was killed and his father was wounded by drive-by shooters who opened fire on their car as they drove home from Karbala. In a separate incident gunmen opened fire randomly on vehicles returning to Baghdad, wounding two pilgrims in a small bus. And a sniper opened fire on pilgrims in southern Baghdad, wounding four. All the incidents were reported by local police who refused to give their names because they were not authorized to release the information.

Sunni politicians, meanwhile, applauded goals set down in an agreement hammered out by the country’s top leaders under intense American pressure but expressed doubt that the U.S.-backed prime minister would actually see them through.