HOLY NAJAF, Iraq: Holy Najaf’s Al-Marje Al-A’ala Sayyed Ali Husseini As-Sistani has called for Iraq's tribes to be deployed to protect the country's holy places after three attacks on the holy shrines in four days, his office said.

An official in Ayatullah Sistani's office in Holy Najaf said: "Ayatullah Sistani, who received a tribal delegation from Kufa, asked that the Iraqi tribes reclaim their role of protecting the shrines.”

"After the crimes against the places of worship, including the blowing up of the mausoleum in Samarra and the attacks against the tombs of Salman al-Farsi and site of Imam Ali bin Mussa Ar-Rida, the tribes must take a stand and claim a role in the protection of these sites," Sistani was quoted as saying.