Askari shrine one of holiest for Shias

IRAQ: The blast that destroyed the golden dome of the Askari shrine at Samarra was intended to provoke Iraqi Shias into attacking Sunnis at a time that politicians in Baghdad are under strong pressure to form a national unity government. Insurgents are determined to prevent the formation of such a government because it would undermine their legitimacy.

The Askari shrine is one of the holiest for Shias. It houses the tombs of Ali al-Naqi, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, who is regarded by mainstream "Twelver" Shias as 10th in the line of succession, and his son Hassan al-Askari, 11th in line. Hikmah, al-Naqi's sister, a chronicler of the times, and Nargis, the mother of al-Askari's son, Muhammad (12th in line), are also buried in the mausoleum.

After his father's death, Muhammad, then four, disappeared down a well in the cellar of the family house. "Twelver" Shias recognise him as the Mahdi, the "Directed One" who is due to appear during the earth's last days. They believe he is still alive but hidden until the appointed moment.

A second magnificent mosque, with a blue tiled dome, was erected over the spot where the Mahdi vanished.

The Askari mosque is modelled on the shrines in the other Shia holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala. The magnificent dome, covered with 72,000 golden pieces, is one of the world's largest. It was presented by Nasr al-Din Shah, of the Persian Qajar dynasty, and completed in 1905 by his son Muzaffar al-Din.

The Persian connection could be significant because Sunni insurgents accuse Iraq's current Shia leaders of being agents of the Iranian clerical regime and refer to them as the "Persians". Since the main Shia holy sites at Najaf, Kerbala, and Khadamiya, in Baghdad have already been targeted, it was only a matter of time before bombers struck the Askari mosque.

Located 125km (78 miles) north of Baghdad, Samarra was one of Mesopotamia's greatest cities and served as the capital of the Arab empire from 836 BC to AD 92 under the Abbasid dynasty.

Following the US occupation, Samarra, a Sunni city of 220,000, became a stronghold of resistance and was repeatedly assaulted by US and allied Iraqi forces. Samarra's most famous monument, the spiral minaret of the ninth century Great Friday Mosque, was damaged in 2005 when insurgents blew up the top section that was being used as an observation post by US soldiers.