Agricultural roads set up in eastern Karbala

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Work has begun on a project to construct an agricultural road in eastern Karbala, while another road has been completed in a different district of the province, the head of Karbala’s provincial council said on Tuesday. “A local company has initiated work on an agricultural road in a village in al-Jadwal al-Gharbi district,” Abdelal al-Yasseri told IraqiNews.com, noting that the cost of the project is 415 million Iraqi dinars (1 U.S. dollars= 1,118 Iraqi dinars). Meanwhile, another company has finished rehabilitation work on al-Shallal road in al-Khayrat district at a cost of 239.61 million Iraqi dinars. Karbala, with an estimated population of 572,300 people in 2003, is the capital of the province and is considered to be one of Shiite Muslims’ holiest cities. The city, 110 km south of Baghdad, is one of Iraq’s wealthiest, profiting both from religious visitors and agricultural produce, especially dates. It is made up of two districts, “Old Karbala,” the religious centre, and “New Karbala,” the residential district containing Islamic schools and government buildings. At the centre of the old city is Masjid al-Hussein, the tomb of Hussein Ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad by his daughter Fatima al-Zahraa and Ali Ibn Abi Taleb. Imam Hussein’s tomb is a place of pilgrimage for many Shiite Muslims, especially on the anniversary of the battle, the Day of Ashuraa. Many elderly pilgrims travel there to await death, as they believe the tomb to be one of the gates to paradise. On April 14, 2007, a car bomb exploded about 600 ft (200 m) from the shrine, killing 47 and wounding over 150. SS (S) 1