An informed source at Iran's Embassy in Iraq has said Baathist hands are involved in the attack on the holy shrine of two Shia Imams in Samarra.

"Baathist supporters of former Iraqi dictator Saddam have detonated the two minarets of the shrine in an insulting and shameless act," the source told Mehr news agency in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

"It is difficult to come and go into Samarra because of the tight security following the blast so we don't know the exact level of damages or casualties," he added.

Wednesday's terrorist attack follows a February 2006 bombing that destroyed the shrine's golden dome.

The 2006 attack, believed to have been carried out by al-Qaeda militants, angered followers of the Shia faith worldwide.

MJ/MR/BGH