Sadr calls Iraqi government for urgent investigation on Qattara shrine's case

“The Kurdistan Region, with all its health institutions, is ready to provide all forms of support and assistance to our people in Holy Karbala,” said Prime Minister Barzani.
Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a speech in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on June 3, 2022. (Photo: Qassem Al-Kaabi/AFP)
Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a speech in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on June 3, 2022. (Photo: Qassem Al-Kaabi/AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist Movement, called on the Iraqi government to start an urgent and serious investigation into the case of the Qattara al-Imam Ali shrine in Karbala holy city.

“This time, corruption rudely reached places of worship,” Sadr tweeted on Sunday. “After presenting our condolences to the victims’ families, we call the government to start an urgent and serious investigation to uncover the truth, so the corruption doesn’t reach the mosques as it did to the state’s ministries and institutions.”

Four bodies have so far been pulled out from under the rubbles after a landslide hit the Qattara Shiite shrine in Iraq’s central city of Karbala, Iraqi civil defense teams said on Sunday as the search effort continues.

Dozens of civilians who had visited the holy site for religious practices were trapped under rubble.  

“With deep sadness, we received the news of the landslide on the shrine of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), which resulted in deaths, injuries, and others under the rubble,” Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani tweeted on Sunday.

Barzani presented his sincere condolences to the victims’ families and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

“The Kurdistan Region, with all its health institutions, is ready to provide all forms of support and assistance to our people in Holy Karbala,” said Prime Minister Barzani.