Animal sacrifices for Muslim holiday turn streets into rivers of blood

Massive amounts of animals slaughtered in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha combined with torrential rains have turned the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, into rivers of blood.

Authorities designated places in Dhaka for residents to sacrifice their animals in honor of the Eid al-Adha holiday, but heavy downpours Tuesday prevented people from using them.

Dhaka’s residents slaughtered the animals throughout the city, and combined with the rain, had the city looking it was hit by a biblical plague.

Muslims traditionally mark Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, by slaughtering livestock to commemorate Prophet Ibrahim’s test of faith, the binding of Isaac, a story taken from the Jewish Bible.

Flooding is common in Dhaka, an overcrowded city of more than 10 million people and one of the largest in the world, because of poor drainage systems.

By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.