From 5 to 19 March 1991, the city of Karbala became a chaotic battlefield as the result of bitter fighting between the insurgents and the Iraqi Republican Guard.

Tourists from Africa all the way to Pakistan flocked to the city in order to go on pilgrimages to the Imam Husayn Shrine.

In the months of the Gulf War, the city was carefully spared by the Coalition during its bombing campaign due to the significance of its mosques.

In the days leading up to the uprising, some believed that agents from Iran moved into the city and hid amongst its population for the future purpose of channeling an Islamic revolution; an unsubstantiated claim which the Ba'athist regime was all too eager to propagate as part of its attempt to discredit the uprising.

It was also reported that a number of these opposition groups consisted of former regular Iraqi Army soldiers who had served in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War.

This action encouraged the people to come out of their homes with light arms and knives, known as "white weapons," and join in the attack.

Some of the local Baathist officials and some of the top security agents, including the chief of police and the deputy governor, were killed in brutal ways because they did not retreat in time.

Throughout the counterattack, voices could be heard on loudspeakers which were located in the shrines of Abbas and Hussein, directing the insurgents to attack the Republican Guards.

In the closing days of the uprising, the shrines were heavily damaged by artillery shells and rockets which were fired from helicopters.

[2] Another mass grave was discovered south of Karbala on 10 January 2010, it contained the bodies of 23 people who were members of both sexes.

[3] The 2014 film The Blue Man,[4] which is related to The New York Times article titled "Uncovering Iraq's Horrors in Desert Graves"[5] written by John F. Burns, is about rebels who were killed during the uprising and buried in The Blue Man mass grave.