Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim boys hold toy swords as they commemorate Ashoura in Baghdad November 4, 2014. More than one million Shi'ite Muslims gathered at shrines and mosques across Iraq on Tuesday for the Ashoura religious ritual with Iraqi security forces on alert for any repeat of the attacks that have inflicted mass casualties during past pilgrimages. Security for the event has been tight since suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers and mortar attacks killed 171 people during Ashoura, an event that defines Shi'ism and its rift with Sunni Islam, in Kerbala and Baghdad in 2004. Shi'ites are commemorating the slaying of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in AD 680. The words visible on the sword read, "Hussein." REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION)