AL-MADAIN, Iraq: Iraqi followers of Ahl-ol Beit (A.S.) were fleeing on Saturday the town of Al-Madain south of Baghdad after terrorists rounded up more than 80 residents and threatened to kill them.

Captain Haitham Muhammad of the Iraqi army who fled Madain with several people to the city of Kut further south said: “Gunmen are going around with loudspeakers demanding that all Shias leave the town.”

“They have detained more than 80 people, including women and children, and they are threatening to kill them unless Shias leave.”

“Gunmen have ringed the town,” said 72-year-old Khodeir Abbas, who fled with 10 members of his family.

A distraught Abbas Mahmoud, 47, a laborer in Madain's market said: “I fled the town fearing they would kill me if I stayed.”

Madain/Salman Pak is home to the shrine of Abdullah bin Ja’far At-Tayyar (A.S.), tombs of holy Prophet Muhammad (S.W.)’s distinguished companions Salman Farsi (R.A.), Hudhaifa Al-Yamani (R.A.) and Jabir b. Abdullah Al-Ansari (A.S.) as well as a historic site Tak-e-Kisra, the palace of Nausherwan - part of ancient Babylonian civilization – which was said to have developed cracks on its walls when the Holy Prophet (S.W.) was born in Makkah.

On 26th March 1934, King Faisal I of Iraq supervised the transfer of the remains of Hudhaifa Al-Yamani (R.A.) and Jabir b. Abdullah Al-Ansari (R.A.) from their resting places in Madain which were endangered with water from River Tigris to a new site at Salman Pak near the resting place of Salman Farsi (R.A.).