IN A rare show of national solidarity, thousands of Sunnis have joined Iraqi Shias in donating money, jewellery and toys to the families of the 1,000 victims of last week’s bridge stampede.

“We never expected such a response. The disaster has been a trigger showing how unified Iraqis are,” said Ali Alkhalidi, the chief correspondent at the Iraqiya TV station in central Baghdad, where the main appeal centre is located.

“People have come from all over Iraq to give money for the bereaved: Sunnis, Shia, Turkomen, Kurds.”

The tragedy occurred last Wednesday, when panic spread through a million-strong crowd of Shia worshippers crossing Baghdad’s al-Aima bridge on their way to the shrine of Imam Musa Khadim, one of the Shia faith’s holiest figures. Rumours of a suicide bomber sparked a stampede in which victims were trampled to death or drowned in the river Tigris as they jumped to escape.

Twenty appeal centres were established throughout Iraq, including two in the capital. Billions of dinars have been given so far.

Mr Alkhalidi claimed that one man had arrived with a bundle of cash amounting to more than £5,000.

“A boy brought his bicycle to donate, a girl her doll,” he said. “So many women have donated their jewellery that we have literally kilos of gold. Some men have offered to donate their kidneys to the injured.”

Their compassion stands in sharp relief against the escalating sectarian violence and daily litany of killings. “I am here to donate with all Iraqis,” said Laith Kanan, a 35-year-old Sunni giving money at the TV centre. “We are one blood, one country. Don’t talk about civil war. It can’t happen. I’m against any sectarian divide.”

Othman al-Ubaidi, a 19-year-old Sunni, has emerged as the symbolic hero of the disaster. He was on the west bank of the river when the Shia crowd stampeded. An athlete and swimmer, he heeded calls from a Sunni imam asking for rescuers and plunged into the Tigris. He saved six Shias before becoming wrapped in the sodden clothing of a seventh, a large woman.

They drowned together. Now a household name, pictures of al-Ubaidi have been carried on the front page of Iraqi newspapers.

Posters of him stand outside two mosques, one Shia, one Sunni, on either side of the Tigris. “Othman is our hero,” said Karim Khalid, 35, a Shia captain in the Iraqi army queuing to give money. “He will stay immortal in the memory of Iraq.”

Yet the show of unity has also been marked by violence. Shots were traded across the river between Shia and Sunni banks two days after the stampede and a planned solidarity march at the weekend was called off due to security concerns. Pressures between the communities are mounting ahead of the planned trial of Saddam Hussein next month.

Yesterday, talks between Iraqi leaders to amend the draft constitution to appease Sunnis ahead of next month’s referendum ended without agreement.

In a few weeks’ time, Othman al-Ubaidi may be remembered more as a footnote hero to the final days of Iraqi coexistence.

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