BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday that his government had signed a contract to rebuild the bombed Shiite Al-Askari shrine in the northern town of Samarra.

A first attack on the shrine in February 2006 destroyed its golden dome and sparked savage sectarian violence which continues to this day. The shrine was bombed for a second time last Wednesday.

During his meeting with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Maliki said "we have signed a contract with UNESCO to immediately reconstruct the shrine," according to a statement from his office quoting him.

Many Shiite leaders had criticised Maliki's government for the delay in reconstructing the shrine after the February attack, especially radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The statement issued by Maliki's office on Saturday however did not say what role the United Nations cultural and educational body would play in the reconstruction.