Iraq's Sistani Returns, Bids to End Najaf Crisis
24285
NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric made a  sudden return to the country Wednesday and said he had a plan  to end an uprising in the "burning city" of Najaf, where  fighting is creeping ever closer to its holiest shrine.
298327
17 August 2004 -- Eight members of Iraq&#39;s National Conference arrived today in Al-Najaf in a bid to end a violent uprising in the city led by radical Shi&#39;ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
108196
Iraq&#39;s most influential Shi&#39;ite cleric headed for the battered city of Najaf on Thursday to try to persuade rebels holed up inside a sacred shrine to leave and end a three-week uprising that has killed hundreds.
760500
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.
577236
NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's top Shiite cleric unexpectedly returned to Iraq 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 weeks of fighting in Najaf.    But a mortar attack on the main mosque in the nearby city of Kufa killed 25 people and wounded 60 others Thursday, hospital officials and witnesses said, a blow to hopes that the crisis could be resolved peacefully...
601828
NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, returned to the country from Britain on Wednesday and his aides called for a nationwide march to Najaf to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between U.S. forces and Shiite militants in this holy city...
585981
NAJAF, Iraq  - A delegation of Iraqi political and  religious leaders flew from Baghdad to Najaf on U.S. military  helicopters Tuesday in a bid to end a bloody Shi'ite uprising.
412338
Iraq's most revered Shi'ite leader persuaded a rebel cleric Thursday to accept a deal ending a three-week uprising in Najaf, after returning to the holy city amid bloody clashes that killed at least 74 people.
249999
NAJAF, Iraq  - A radical Shi'ite cleric and Iraq's  interim prime minister made gestures on Friday to defuse a  two-week uprising in Najaf, after ferocious U.S. air strikes  and heavy fighting killed at least 77 people.
400728
Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, made a dramatic return to Najaf on Thursday and swiftly won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia and U.S.-Iraqi forces.
191090
NAJAF, Iraq A delegation of Iraqis arrived here Tuesday to try to persuade a rebellious Shiite cleric and his militia to evacuate a shrine in this holy city and end fighting with US and Iraqi government forces.
184012
Iraq&#39;s top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to this violence-wracked city on Thursday aiming to broker a peace deal to end more than three weeks of devastating fighting between US forces and Shiite militants.
211843
Representatives of Iraq's interim government have visited Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in London where he is recovering after medical treatment, a statement said.
145499
NAJAF, Iraq, August 25.âThe Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has called on Iraqis to go to the sacred city of Najaf to expel the US troops and save it from attacks by the occupying forces, stated Hamad Al-Jaffaf, head of his cabinet, on Al Arabiya television
554253
NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's most influential Shi'ite  cleric headed for the battered city of Najaf on Thursday to try  to persuade rebels holed up inside a sacred shrine to leave and  end a three-week uprising that has killed hundreds.
305795
Iraq&#39;s top Shi&#39;ite cleric made a sudden return to the country on Wednesday and said he had a plan to end an uprising in the &quot;burning city&quot; of Najaf, where fighting is creeping ever closer to its holiest shrine.
208143
Iraq's top Shiite cleric called Saturday for Muslim unity and an end to sectarian conflict, his first public statement in months on the worsening security crisis.