Muslims say Ramadan prayers in holy city in Iraq

Iraqi Shiites in Karbala started their first day of Ramadan on Sunday by visiting and praying in the holy shrines of the city. Muslims follow a lunar calendar and a moon-sighting methodology can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart.

While for much of the Middle East the holy month of Ramadan began at sunrise Saturday, Shiites in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon marked the start of Ramadan a day later. Shiites represent over 10% of the world's 1.8 billion Muslims. Ramadan is the holiest month of the Islamic year when Muslims are expected to fast from dawn to dusk in an effort to renew their focus on spiritual, rather than material, matters. But in Iraq, the start of Ramadan highlighted widespread frustration over a meteoric rise in food prices, exacerbated in the past month by the conflict in Ukraine.