Karbala, Iraq - At least 16 workers were injured Monday when the wall of an important Shiite Muslim shrine they were renovating collapsed on them, police in the central Iraqi city of Karbala said.

"The wall's collapse was caused by faulty specifications from the engineers," police in Karbala told the German Press Agency dpa.

The construction workers were rescued from the debris and taken immediately to hospital, police said.

The workers were renovating the shrine to Hurr Ibn Yazid al-Riyahi, a commander in the army that fought the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Hussein, at the battle of Karbala in the year 680.

Al-Riyahi is revered by Shiite Muslims for changing sides in the conflict, then fighting and dying alongside Hussein. (dpa)