People were crushed by concrete roofs as mud-brick walls crumbled.

People were crushed by concrete roofs as mud-brick walls crumbled.
BAM, Iran (AP) -- Iran's supreme leader pledged to rebuild the earthquake-shattered ancient city of Bam, as one foreign search team called off its rescue efforts, saying it was finding no more signs of life amid the rubble.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visited the devastated city, where more than 25,000 people have died, and told hundreds of victims gathered in the street that he shared their grief.
"I've come here to express my condolences and tell you that I share your grief at the beloved ones who have died," he said today.
"All of us are responsible to meet the demands of the survivors," Khamenei said. "Aid should continue to come so that, God willing, the city of Bam is rebuilt better and this time stronger than before. We can build a strong and developed city out of this devastation."
Aftershocks and panic
Before he spoke, two strong aftershocks set off a wave of panic and caused some of the few remaining buildings to collapse. Mud bricks tumbled to the ground in the ancient citadel, raising a cloud of dust that hovered over the ruins for at least 15 minutes.
President Mohammad Khatami was expected to arrive later today.
More than 25,000 bodies have been retrieved since Friday's 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook the city and surrounding region in southeast Iran, according to provincial government spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh.
"Many, many more people remain buried under the rubble, increasing fears of a much greater death toll at the end," Iranmanesh said.
Some officials have expressed fears that the death toll could rise as high as 40,000.
Hope for survivors fades
Hopes of finding more survivors faded as sunrise today marked 72 hours since the quake hit, entombing thousands of sleeping residents in their homes. Experts say 72 hours is generally the longest people can survive if they are trapped in rubble.
Rescue workers from around the world have joined Iranians in searching through powdery debris that left little room for air pockets, which could allow people to survive while awaiting help.
Germany's THW government aid agency called off its search for survivors, spokesman Nicolas Hefner said today.
Hefner said there were no longer any signals such as knocking sounds to be heard, and no more indications from local people of possible survivors.
Others will continue
But Eric Soupra, spokesman for the French team, said rescuers must continue searching despite the fading chances of finding survivors.
"There have been miracles in earthquakes before, in other cities, in other countries, and so we must continue searching," he told France's RTL radio.
The Italian team also planned to continue searching all day.
"Even if the lengthy amount of time that has passed since the quake doesn't inspire optimism, we still haven't definitively abandoned hope of finding survivors," said Agostino Miozzo, head of the Italian civil protection corps and coordinator of the European aid response team in Bam.
But only one man was pulled alive from the rubble Sunday, Iranmanesh said. A day earlier, officials reported freeing 150 survivors.
Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said Sunday that the search for survivors would probably end tonight.
Ted Pearn, coordinator of U.N. relief operations in Bam, said 1,400 international relief workers were in Bam, part of 35 teams from 26 countries.
Planes from dozens of countries have landed in the provincial capital of Kerman with relief supplies, volunteers and dogs trained to find bodies and survivors.
U.S. military C-130 cargo planes were among them, despite long-severed diplomatic relations and President Bush's characterization of Iran as being part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea.
The traditional sun-dried, mud-brick construction of the houses doomed many occupants, as it has for centuries in quake-prone Iran. Heavy roofs, often sealed with cement or plaster to keep out rain, sit atop mud-brick walls that have no support beams. When walls crumble, roofs smash down, leaving few air pockets and crushing or suffocating anyone inside.
Mostafa Biderani and his wife, Zahra Nazari, wept in front of a destroyed police station in Bam, slapping their faces and beating their chests in an Islamic expression of grief.