In pictures: Taleban shrine

A graveyard in the Afghan city of Khost, where the bodies of Taleban and foreign Arab fighters killed by US bombing in 2001 were laid to rest has become a shrine to local people (Photos, text: Bilal Sarwary).

Local people like Maryam Bibi, who says she is 93, come here to pray. "I pray for the king (Afghan president Hamid Karzai) to please keep his government strong and don't bring any instability."

Abdul Qudoas, 80, says he comes to the shrine because "I know that a lot of sick people have been feeling better" after visiting it. "It's the hospital where people get better".

"I came to visit the martyrs on Fridays," says Mohammad Safar Omar, 21. "It's a holy day - I pray to god please forgive them and us as well. I ask for him to please grant us the path to Jannat (Paradise) and please solve our problems."

People visit the shrine and often leave money as a tribute. The graveyard holds the remains of 38 fighters killed praying in a mosque during a US air raid.

"This is a holy shrine because all those who got killed in the bombing of the Americans in 2001 were praying at the time," says Zahir Shah. "I was sick with some problem with my throat. But I have started feeling better."

Traders sell salt at the graveyard, which some people believe will cure them of their illnesses.

These women came because "we think that God will help us have a baby boy," one says. "We pray for the souls of these people killed," she adds.

Deera Gul Omar is the caretaker. "I know that people come all the way from Kabul, Karachi and other places. They come here with their problems and God helps them because of these martyrs."

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