Samarra Revered Shrine Blown up

Insurgents on Wednesday blew up the two minarets of a revered shrine in the northern town of Samarra.

A top Iraqi official said the tall structures of the shrine of Imam Hadi and Imam Hassan Askari (Peace Be Upon Them) came down at around 9:00 am local time.

Sheikh Saleh al-Haidiri, head of the endowment administrative body responsible for shrines in Iraq, said the minarets were blown up by "terrorists".

"It is a terrorist attack ... the second one against the shrine," Haidiri said in Baghdad, adding, "It is a terrorist attack aimed at sparking sectarian Violence."

On February 22, 2006, Al-Qaeda insurgents bombed the shrine in an attack which triggered brutal nationwide clashes that are still continuing.

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 Wednesday's attack.