Millions of Muslims mark Ashura with anti-terror slogans

Millions of Shia Muslims around the world gathered to commemorate the seventh-century killing of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, thousands of which used the Ashura event as an opportunity to stand against terrorism at a time of increasing islamophobia.

Pilgrims flocked to Karbala, where Hussain ibn Ali was killed by the forces of the Caliph Yazid in 680 AD - a formative event in Shia Islam.

Some 25,000 members of Iraq’s security forces were deployed to protect the pilgrims, who in the past have faced attacks from Islamic State militants and other extremist groups.

Ashura is the tenth day of the Muslim month of Muharram, and is preceded by nine days of mourning, Islamic lectures and narrating the story of Hussain and his 72 family members and companions - all of which were killed or imprisoned in Karbala, modern day Iraq.

Similar events took place around the globe, including neighbouring Iran and Lebanon as well as the British capital, where thousands of Londoners gathered to mark the event with anti-IS slogans.

"ISIS will lose, love will win” and “We stand united against terrorism” were just come of the placards to decorate London’s streets, where the militant group has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in the past few months alone.

Just a week earlier, British police said they charged an 18-year-old Iraqi man with attempted murder following the bombing of a London Underground train, which injured 30 people.

The explosion at Parsons Green station in south-west London, was Britain's fifth terror attack in six months, and was claimed by the Islamic State group, although both British and US officials have cast doubt on the statement, saying there was no evidence any recognised militant group had ordered or organised the bombing.