TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Iran's Deputy Police Chief Brigadier General Eskandar Momeni announced new plans to improve infrastructures and facilitate pilgrimage to the Iraqi holy city of Karbala.

Security and law enforcement forces are fully prepared, and Iran-Iraq borders are now fully secure, General Momeni said in a Tuesday visit to the country's western borders in Ilam province.

Momeni referred to the problems Iranian pilgrims faced last year while travelling to Karbala through western borders, and stressed that the country is determined to resolve them.

Development of infrastructures including roads, beltways, resting places, and public transportation services for the pilgrims are among the most important issues for Arbaeen pilgrimage this year, Momeni added.

Last December, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced that the country plans to highly increase the capacity for providing services for 1.5 million pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala for the next Arbaeen mourning processions.

Each year, pilgrims, mainly from Iraq and Iran, travel long routes on foot to Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located.

Last year, more than 20 million pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Karbala to attend the mourning ceremonies marking Arbaeen, the 40th day after the anniversary of martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

According to the official figures, around 1.5 million pilgrims travelled to Iraq from Iran alone.

By Tasnim News Agency