Middle East News
Samarra's al-Askari mosque to be rebuilt
Feb 7, 2008, 16:18 GMT
Baghdad - Samarra's al-Askari Mosque is to be rebuilt two years after being destroyed by Sunni extremists, authorities in the provincial capital Tikrit said Thursday.
Clean-up activities were already under way, it was said.
The government in Baghdad had given around 16 million dollars for the purpose, sources in the capital said.
Al-Askari Mosque is one of the most important Shiite shrines, not just in Iraq. It houses the tombs of two imams considered immediate descendants of the Prophet Mohammed.
Samarra, 125 kilometres north of Baghdad, is located in a majority Sunni area.
Extremists of the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq destroyed the shrine in bomb attacks on February 22, 2006, sparking a bloody conflict between Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites.
In June, extremists shot up the shrine's two minarets, which had withstood the earlier attack.
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CharlesFeb 8th, 2008 - 15:57:24
Quick - someone blame Bush and the jews!
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