THE CITY OF DEATH

You'll need a GPS to find your way around this cemetary...

This is my second post on interesting cemetaries. (See: THE COFFINS OF SAGADA). I came across these pics on Beyond the Invisible.

Wādī al-Salām in Najaf, is the largest Islamic cemetery and one of the largest cemeteries in the world. It covers an area of six square kilometers and holds an estimated five million bodies. Millions of Muslims over the centuries have been brought here for burial from all parts of the world. It is called both 'The Valley of Peace' and 'The City of Death'.

The trade involving the transportation of dead bodies from far off areas has been operated for centuries. When the war started in 1980, Saddam banned corpses trafficking. After his fall corpses trafficking, resumed, reviving the local economy with a profitable 100 funerals a day.

The corpse traffic is organized and regulated by the Health Departments Customs that collects duty on the corpses and keeps watch to prevent epidemics.