Najaf equipped with 3 explosive-detecting vehicles

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: Najaf received three explosive-detecting vehicles at a total cost of 5.8 billion Iraqi dinars (ID), according to the province’s police command’s information director on Thursday. “The Najaf Police Department had signed a contract, through the Iraqi interior ministry, to purchase these vehicles in a bid to maintain security in the holy city, where millions of pilgrims flock annually to visit shrines there,” First Lieutenant Miqdad al-Moussawi told IraqiNews.com news agency. Meanwhile, the acting governor of Najaf, Razzaq Shareef said in statements to IraqiNews.com that the purchasing of these vehicles is an initial step, to be followed by purchase of other explosive-detecting equipment. Millions of Muslims in and outside Iraq flow into the holy Shiite city to visit the tomb of Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib and the Wadi-us-Salaam cemetery, west of the city of Najaf. Wadi-us-Salaam, or Valley of Peace, is an Islamic cemetery, located in Najaf, 160 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. It is reputed to be the largest cemetery in the world. It is estimated more than half a million corpses are interred in the cemetery each year. The cemetery covers 1485.5 acres (6 km²) and contains millions of bodies. The cemetery holds the graves of many Islamic prophets, and is located near the Shrine of Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the top holiest figure for Shiite Muslims. Thus, nearly all Shiites in Iraq request that they be buried in this cemetery. AmR (S) 104