Members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), who volunteered to work in the cemetery, wearing protective suits, check a grave before burial, at new Wadi Al-Salam cemetery, which is dedicated to those who died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, May, 25. 2020. Picture taken May, 25. 2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi paramedic Sarmad Ibrahim cut his teeth treating fellow Shi'ite Muslim militiamen in the war against Islamic State. Now, he buries COVID-19 victims - an exhausting task where he must also get to grips with both Muslim and Christian burial rites.
"So far, we're coping," Ibrahim said as fellow volunteers from the Imam Ali Combat Brigade prepared to handle a coffin just sent from Baghdad. "But if we start receiving more bodies we might not be able to bury according to religious rules."
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