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Add an EventExplosions destroy Shia shrine minarets
The al-Askari shrine's dome was destroyed in February 2006 in a bombing blamed on al Qaida-linked militants. The mosque compound and minarets remained intact, and have been guarded since then by Iraqi police and commandos.
The US military headquarters in the area had no immediate information about today's attack. "We're only hearing initial reports ourselves, and we're looking into it," said Capt. Jennifer Nihill, a spokeswoman for Task Force Lightning.
The bombing could possibly unleash another wave of sectarian killings similar to the one that swept Baghdad and other areas of Iraq in the months that followed the destruction of the shrine's dome.
The sectarian killings have declined since February, at the start of a major US-Iraqi security push to pacify Baghdad.
Since the shrine's famous golden dome was destroyed in the bombing on February 22, 2006, the mosque has remained closed, the dome a mound of rubble.
The al-Askari mosque contains the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams - Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868, and his son Hassan al-Askari, who died in 874. Both are descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, and Shiites consider them to be among his successors.
The shrine also is near the place where the 12th imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared. Al-Mahdi, known as the "hidden imam," was the son and grandson of the two imams buried in the Askariya shrine. Shiites believe he will return to Earth restore justice to humanity.
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