BAGHDAD, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Thousands of mourning Iraqis gathered Tuesday in the holy city of al-Najaf to bury symbolic remains of slain Shi'ite leader Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim.
Police officials estimated the crowd at between 500,000 and one-million people
Al-Hakim died on Friday in the bombing at the Imam Ali shrine, Iraq's holiest Shi'ite site. The explosion killed at least 82 others.
Radio Free Europe said Hakim's family, unable to recover his body after the massive explosion, buried a coffin containing his watch, his pen, and his wedding ring.
Afterwards, the U.S. administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, told Radio Free Europe plans are under way to dramatically increase the size of the Iraqi national police force to between 65,000 and 75,000 officers.
