Militia, Shiite Leaders Bicker Over Shrine
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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr remained in control of a revered Shiite shrine at the center of the crisis in Najaf on Saturday, as they bickered with top Shiite religious leaders over how to hand the holy site over.    Despite the standoff, Najaf remained largely calm Saturday...
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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.
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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.
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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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Militant supporters of radical Iraqi Shi&#39;ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr kept their hold on a sacred religious shrine Sunday as fighting flared around the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
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Fighting was still raging near a holy shrine in the city of Najaf shortly after the government announced Iraqi police had entered the site peacefully Friday, witnesses said.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Fighters loyal to Iraqi cleric  Moqtada al-Sadr retained their grip on the Imam Ali shrine in  Najaf on Saturday, dampening hopes that talks with religious  authorities would quickly end a two-week siege.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr kept their hold on a revered shrine as clashes flared in Najaf on Sunday, raising fears a resolution to the crisis in the holy city could collapse amid bickering between Shiite leaders.    An unofficial mediator and distant relative of the cleric pleaded with al-Sadr to disarm his militants, pull them out of the shrine and disband his militia immediately...
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BAGHDAD - When guards in the holy city of Karbala waved a Shi'ite religious leader's convoy through a security cordon and into the Imam Hussein shrine last week, they incensed a crowd of rival militia men and sparked fighting that claimed the lives of at least 50 and left parts of the city smoldering.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - US marines and a radical Iraqi cleric are locked in a tense standoff after the firebrand leader refused to leave a holy shrine in Najaf despite earlier agreeing to disarm his militia and withdraw.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Explosions and gunfire shook Najaf on Monday amid fierce battles between U.S. forces and Shiite militants, who remained in control of a revered shrine here as negotiations dragged on for its handover to religious authorities...
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Loyalists of Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr remained in control of the gold-domed Imam Ali shrine on Saturday after failing to reach an agreement
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In the face-off at the shrine, U.S.  and Iraqi leaders vowed to crush  al-Sadr's rebellion. But they may have stoked the insurgency even  more
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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr kept their hold on a revered shrine, and clashes flared in Najaf on Saturday, raising fears that a resolution to the crisis in the holy city could collapse amid bickering between Shiite leaders.    An unofficial mediator pleaded with al-Sadr to disarm his militants, pull them out of the shrine and disband his militia immediately." We are in a race with time," said Hussein al-Sadr, a distant relative of the cleric...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Thousands of pilgrims streamed into the Imam Ali Shrine on Friday and filed out mixed with militants who had been holed up inside, leaving the holy site nearly empty after Iraq's top Shiite cleric brokered a peace deal to end three weeks of fighting in this holy city.    Hours earlier, firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a statement broadcast over the shrine's loudspeakers, ordering his fighters to lay down their arms and leave Najaf and neighboring Kufa...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday removed weapons from the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf in a step aimed at ending the 2-week-old uprising centered on the holy site.    Iraq's highest Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, agreed to take control of the shrine, which al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia turned into a stronghold and refuge during their fight with U.S...
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Threats from insurgents delayed a trip  by Iraqi political and religious leaders to the holy city of  Najaf on Tuesday to try and persuade a radical Shi'ite cleric  to end a rebellion that has killed hundreds.