6 killed as construction equipment collapses in Iraqi shrine: police

BAGHDAD: JAN. 13 – Six civilians were killed and two wounded on Thursday when construction equipment collapsed in a shrine in Iraq’s central province of Babil, the local police said.

In the morning incident, the construction equipment and part of a roof fell on worshippers inside the Hamza al-Gharbi Shrine near the provincial capital Hillah, some 100 km south of Baghdad, killing four women and two children and wounding two others, Babil’s police said in a statement.

Iraqi authorities were conducting a renovation for part of the shrine when the incident occurred, the statement said, adding investigation has been launched into the incident.

-Xinhua