Iraqi authorities will soon reopen a major bridge across the River Tigris in Baghdad that has been closed for more than three years since a deadly stampede killed nearly 1000 Shiite pilgrims.

"The Baghdad Operations Command has decided to reopen the Al-Aima bridge in the next few days after (the Muslim feast of) Eid al-Fitr," interior ministry spokesperson Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told AFP on Friday.

He said the bridge that links the Sunni district of Adhamiyah with the Shiite district of Kadhimiyah would be reopened in a bid to ease the traffic jams that plague the capital.

"The barriers on the bridge will be removed within days," Khalaf said, without specifying a date for the reopening.

It comes amid improved security in Baghdad with US commanders hailing the quietest Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in three years.

The Al-Aima bridge was closed after the deadly stampede on 31 August 2005 during a festival attended by tens of thousands of pilgrims marking the death of revered Shiite Imam Musa Kadhim 12 centuries ago.

A mortar attack and rumours of a suicide bomber among the crowd sparked the tragedy, the deadliest to hit Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of 2003.

AFP