Iraqis spend millions on silver to fix Shiite shrine
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Iraqis have bought millions of dollars worth of silver from Swiss dealers to refurbish a shrine to a revered imam in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, an official said.
"We received on Tuesday the ... silver that we ordered in Switzerland and we will start work in two or three days," secretary-general of the Imam Hadrat al-Abbas mausoleum, Ahmed al-Safi said.
"We were able to buy the precious metal through thousands of donations from pilgrims."
Abbas was killed along with his brother Imam Hussein in the Battle of Karbala in the year 680 and buried in the city.
His shrine was looted and destroyed before being reconstructed in the 11th century.
- AFP
Editor's note: This story was amended on August 29, 2008 to remove an incorrect figure of the amount of silver bought for the shrine.
