Something a friend noticed while I was doing the morning carnage searches was that nowhere was a news story that mentioned the fate of the tombs inside the Golden Mosque. Not a single paper reported that they survived, which I figured would be an important item to mention, and which leads me to believe that they may have been damaged or even destroyed. A more intense search pulled up an obscure site I had never visited before, which claimed:
“There were no casualities, but the explosion destroyed the tombs of the tenth and eleventh of the 12 Imams revered by the Shia as the legitimate successors of the Prophet Mohammed.”
I don’t know anything about the credibility of this source, but it’s worth noting. It seems to be an Italian site that monitors the Arab Middle East.
Of course the reason not to broadcast this fact would be that the local media has been forbidden from reporting it, and that foreign media can’t confirm it — a simple desire not to fan the flames wouldn’t be a pact that could be kept by every single media source in the world.
If anyone has any information, please let me know ASAP.
UPDATE: Turns out that since Islamic tombs tend to be about 20 feet below the surface, that the tombs are likely fine. What is above ground are the shrines that mark the tombs, and those are likely destroyed.