By DPA
Baghdad : Extremists Wednesday blew up the minarets of one of the holiest religious sites for Shia Muslims in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra, the second attack on the site.
Police reported that the two thin towers of the Mosque of Imams Hassan al-Askari and Ali al-Hadi had been destroyed.
Police reported that before the bombs were detonated, several mortar shells had struck the site, which was being guarded by army and interior ministry units.
A previous attack in Feb 2006 on the Golden Mosque of Samarra, which contains the tombs of two of Shia's most revered imams making it a major pilgrimage site, unleashed a wave of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias that has continued until today.
Shia clerics accused the government after the first attack of taking too long to repair the golden dome on top of the mosque.
The Golden Mosque contains relics of the Imams, who lived in the 9th century and are highly revered by Shias.
In a further attack elsewhere in Iraq Wednesday, extremists used several explosives to destroy a 100-metre-long bridge over the Saghaitun river. The bridge is a vital link on the highway between Tikrit and the northern city of Kirkuk.
It was the fourth attack on a bridge in Iraq in as many days.