BAGHDAD, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Transport will start a project soon to build a new civil airport in the city of Najaf, Al Sabah Al Jadid newspaper reported Tuesday.

    The construction of the airport in Najaf, 180 km south of Baghdad, would greatly activate interior and exterior transportation, Bayan Jabir, consultant of Iraqi prime minister forreconstruction affairs, was quoted as saying.

    It would participate in transporting tourists and visitors from inside and outside the country to the holy shrines in the cities ofNajaf and Karbala, he added.

    He pointed out that Iraq used to have a number of civil airports, three main ones in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra, but they were greatly damaged during the military operations and air bombings. Enditem