More than three million visitors are commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Al-'Askari (peace be upon him) in Samarra..

The Deputy head of the Shiite Waqf; Sheikh Sami AL-Mas'udi announced that the number of participants in the commemoration rituals of the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Al-Hassan Al-'Askari (peace be upon him) in Samarra, which was concluded on Sunday 8th Rabi' Al-Awwal 1436 AH corresponding to the 20th December, 2015, was more than three million visitors from inside and outside Iraq.
The head of media Department at the holy shrine of Imams Al-'Askariyayn (peace be upon them); Mr. Rahman Al-Fayyad has stated: "The holy shrine of Imams Al-'Askariyayn (peace be upon them) has taken all necessary procedures for the success of the Ziyarat of millions, as Samarra has became a destination for the visitors after a clear improvment in the security side, in addition to the reconstruction movement in the holy shrine and the number of actions of cooperation and coordination between the holy shrines of Imam Ali, Imam Al-Hussayn, Imams Al-Kadhem and Al-Jawad and of Al-Abbas (peace be upon them all), with concerted great efforts made by the holy shrines for the success of the rituals of this blesses Ziyarat in addition of the participation of large numbers of volunteers who have contributed in providing services to the visitors."
Al-Fayyad explained: "The holy shrine of Al-'Askariyayn (peace be upon him) formed a joint operations room with the leadership of Samarra operations, which took actions in cooperation and coordination with the security forces, police, federal forces, volunteers of popular mobilization and the security forces of the the holy shrine by applying a plan that begins from the entrance of (Samarra -Baghdad) down to the holy shrine and from the holy shrine to the entrance of (Samarra - Tikrit), where the security forces, federal police and the volunteers of the popular mobilization were spread along these roads as the Ziyarat of this year continued for five consecutive days."