Gov't Gives Najaf Militants 'Final Call'
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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi made a "final call" Thursday to Shiite militants in Najaf to disarm and withdraw from a revered shrine or face a massive onslaught by Iraqi forces to root them out.    The last-ditch warning came shortly after the militants' leader, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, rejected those demands with a vow to seek "martyrdom or victory." Just hours before al-Sadr's defiant statement, fighters presumably from his Mahdi Army militia bombarded a Najaf police station with mortar rounds, killing seven policemen and injuring 31...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Followers loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Friday they were prepared to hand control of the revered Imam Ali Shrine to top Shiite religious authorities, and Iraq's interim prime minister said he would not storm the holy site.    The moves came after a day and night of fighting in Najaf that killed 77 people and wounded 70 others, as al-Sadr militiamen mortared a police station and U.S...
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Militants said Wednesday they had kidnapped the brother-in-law of Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan and demanded he end all military operations in the holy city of Najaf, according to a video, Al-Jazeera television reported. The authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified.
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NAJAF, Iraq - A rebel cleric's militiamen kept their guns outside a holy site Friday after issuing a surprise offer to give up control of the Imam Ali Shrine to Shiite Muslim religious leaders, but negotiators wrangled into the night over getting the militants out of the compound.    The removal of weapons and pledge to hand over keys to religious authorities was seen as a big step toward a resolution of the two-week faceoff in Najaf that has killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in fighting between Muqtada al-Sadr's militia and a joint U.S.-Iraq force...
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq&#39;s Defence Ministry has ordered Shi&#39;ite militiamen in Najaf to immediately lay down their weapons and leave a holy shrine in the city.
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AGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 19 - Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave what he described as a final warning on Thursday to the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, saying the cleric should move quickly to fulfill his vow to disarm and leave the shrine ...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters Thursday to hand control of a revered Najaf shrine to top Shiite religious authorities, hours after U.S. forces bombed militant positions and Iraq's prime minister made a "final call" for the cleric's militia to surrender...
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Negotiations over the embattled city of Najaf took a new and complicated turn Thursday when an official of Iraq's interim government issued fresh demands to be met by rebellious Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, accompanied by warnings of an imminent military offensive at the shrine where Sadr's militia is holed up.
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Iraq&#39;s top Shi&#39;ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged his supporters converging on Najaf on Thursday not to enter the battered holy city until he arrived, a senior aide said.
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NAJAF, Iraq -- Radical Shi&#39;ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr refused yesterday to meet with a delegation of Iraqi political figures that had rushed here from Baghdad with a last-ditch offer for peace, ...
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NAJAF, Iraq - An Iraqi Cabinet minister said Thursday that Iraqi forces could begin an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr within hours, despite the firebrand cleric's acceptance of a cease-fire proposal.    Minister of State Qassim Dawoud issued a series of demands al-Sadr must meet to prevent an imminent attack on his forces, who are holed up in the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf...
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Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand  Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged his supporters converging on  Najaf on Thursday not to enter the battered holy city until he  arrived, a senior aide said.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Hoping to end weeks of fighting in Najaf, Iraq's top Shiite cleric unexpectedly returned home from Britain on Wednesday armed with a new peace initiative and a call for Iraqis across the country to march on the holy city to demand an end to the fighting.    Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani, who wields enormous influence among Shiite Iraqis, had previously declined to get involved in resolving the violent conflicts roiling the nation, and it was unclear why he suddenly changed his mind...
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NAJAF, Iraq -- Radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr refused yesterday to meet with a delegation of Iraqi political figures that had rushed here from Baghdad with a last-ditch offer for peace, deflating hopes for a quick resolution to the confrontation between Sadr's militia and US and Iraqi security forces.
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NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces battled militants Tuesday in Najaf, sending plumes of black smoke over the holy city as Iraq's government warned fighters loyal to a radical cleric "they have hours to surrender" in their weekslong standoff inside the Imam Ali Shrine or face attack...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Saturday that they handed over the keys to a revered Muslim shrine to Shiite religious leaders - a big step toward resolving a 2-week-old standoff in the holy city of Najaf.    The militants, however, remain in control of the Imam Ali Shrine while final details of the transfer are worked out, said al-Sadr aide Ahmed al-Shaibany...
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq&#39;s radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr refused on Tuesday to meet a delegation of Iraqi political and religious leaders seeking to end a rebellion in the holy city of Najaf and other parts of the country.