Maliki orders transportation for Shiite pilgrims

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given instructions to provide transportation services for pilgrims during the religious occasion of Arbaeen. “The instructions have also included the Ministry of Health. Health departments all over the country have been ordered to concentrate their medical attention on visitors,” an official spokesperson for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The Arbaeen is a religious occasion marking the 40 th day after the death of Imam al-Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third holiest figure for Shiite Muslims, in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hegira year 61 (680 in the Gregorian calendar). SS (P)/SR 2