Iraq's Valley of Peace helps overflowing morgues

By Khaled Farhan

07/28/06 "Reuters" -- -- Shi'ites from all over the world aspire to be buried in Najaf's sacred Valley of Peace cemetery, but the dozens of Iraqi corpses brought there every Friday bear witness only to the carnage sweeping the country.

Baghdad morgues fill up so quickly that victims of Iraq's sectarian violence cannot be kept for long and unidentified corpses must be moved elsewhere.

Every Friday, volunteers transport them to Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, risking guerrilla attacks on one of Iraq's most dangerous roads to give them a dignified burial.

The men who wash the bodies and wrap them in white cloth according to Muslim custom have gained a first-hand view of the ferocity of Iraq's rising sectarian violence.

Kareem al-Haidari said he usually handles 50 to 60 bodies each Friday, the Muslim holy day on which more and more Iraqis are praying for the safety of their loved ones.

"There are usually signs of torture and mutilation like the drilling of eyes and skulls, or severed limbs," he said.

"I will never forget that horrible scene when one corpse's head was cut off and replaced with a dog's head." Muslims consider dogs to be dirty animals. Most of the victims of violence are bound, a trademark sign of sectarian killings.

Seventy-five bodies arrived at the cemetery this Friday.

"Most of the bodies were bound by chains so we always have to keep a cutter nearby to cut them. Most bodies were beheaded and they have a lot of holes in the head and face," said cemetery worker Riad Ahmed.

VOLUNTEERS FOR THE DEAD

The regular arrival of so many unclaimed bodies has prompted wealthy residents of Najaf to buy a plot of land in the cemetery and devote it to them.

"We keep in touch with the Baghdad morgue and tell them we have room to bury a certain number. This week we agreed on 400," said Sheikh Sadiq Zahid, one of the owners of the burial office.

Three trucks recently delivered 70 beheaded bodies to the cemetery, according to a Najaf local government media office.

There are so many unidentified bodies that some are taken to the sacred city of Kerbala, north of Najaf.

Some of the body washers and grave diggers are supporters of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who belongs to the ruling Shi'ite Alliance. Sunni Arabs accuse his Mehdi Army militia of running death squads, a charge they deny.

The Valley of Peace cemetery, believed to be the biggest in the world, has seen better days.

It is the holiest burial place for Shi'ites, who have arranged to be brought from Iran, Pakistan, India, Bahrain and elsewhere to lie close to Imam Ali, the cousin and successor of the prophet Muhammad.

Ali's remains are enshrined in the gold-domed mosque.

Baghdad's morgue photographs the bodies and assigns them a number before they are taken to Najaf, in case relatives show up looking for them.

Sometimes false hopes are raised.

Every Friday Muhammad Shahud goes to the Najaf cemetery to search for his brother Hussein, 27, a minibus driver.

"I went to the central morgue in Baghdad. I was devastated when I saw a picture of my brother. They said to look for number five and said they would send him to Najaf," he said.

"But I was shocked to find the number was for an old man and not my brother. I don't want anything from life but to find the body of my brother to make sure he will rest in peace."

(Additional reporting by Omar al-Ibadi in Baghdad)

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited.