Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday sent a telegram of condolences to his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani over a deadly stampede in Iraq.
   
On behalf of the Chinese government and people and in his own name, Hu expressed his "earnest sympathy" to President Talabani, the Iraqi government and the families of the victims, offering the "deep-felt condolences" to the victims.
   
Nearly 1,000 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, were killed and hundreds of others injured on Wednesday in a large gathering at a Shiite shrine in Baghdad as panic swept through the crowds sparked by rumors of a suicide bombing among them.
   
Most of the victims on Imams bridge were trampled or crushed. Others plunged some 10 meters into the muddy Tigris river.

(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2005)