Sistani to Lead Peace Mission to Embattled Iraq City
122091
NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric was due  to travel to Najaf on Thursday after making a surprise return  to the country to try to end bitter fighting creeping ever  closer to the city's holiest shrine.
670147
A radical Iraqi cleric leading a Shi'ite uprising agreed on Wednesday to disarm his militia and leave one of the country's holiest Islamic shrines after warnings of an onslaught by government forces.
140785
NAJAF, Iraq - Militants filed out of the Imam Ali Shrine, closed the doors behind them and turned over the keys to Iraq's top Shiite cleric Friday, symbolizing their acceptance of a peace deal to end three weeks of devastating fighting in this holy city.    By Friday afternoon, dozens of Iraqi police and national guardsmen surrounded the shrine compound - many kissing its doors and weeping - as the government began to re-establish control over the Old City of Najaf...
400323
NAJAF (Iraq): With a peace plan, reached with the mutual consent of Sistani and Sadr, the apex Clerics of Iraq, the gates of the holy Shrine in Najaf were got open Thursday by a sea of weeping and chanting Muslims, ending the weeks-long siege of the
695801
The surprise return to Iraq of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country&#39;s most powerful religious leader, may help him win back support eroded by a radical Shi&#39;ite uprising.
570709
NAJAF, Iraq  - A radical Iraqi cleric leading a Shi&#39;ite uprising agreed Wednesday to disarm his militia and leave one of the country&#39;s holiest Islamic shrines after warnings of an onslaught by government forces.
145404
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was due to visit Iran on Monday amid growing calls for Washington to engage Tehran in dialogue to help stop Iraq sliding into civil war.
625105
Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, returned to the country on Wednesday and urged Iraqis to march on the "burning city" of Najaf, where fighting is creeping ever closer to its sacred shrine.
431746
Iraq&#39;s top Shi&#39;ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has arrived in Najaf in a bid to end to weeks of fighting between Shi&#39;ite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces.
625231
NAJAF, Iraq - Firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters to lay down their arms and leave Najaf and neighboring Kufa Friday after agreeing to a peace deal brokered by Iraq's top spiritual leader to end three weeks of bloody fighting.    Al-Sadr issued the order in a statement to his Mahdi Army militia that also was broadcast through loudspeakers at the revered Imam Ali Shrine, which militants have used as a stronghold and refuge throughout their standoff with a combined U.S.-Iraqi force...
183484
Iraq&#39;s top Shi&#39;ite cleric was due to travel to Najaf on Thursday after making a surprise return to the country to try to end bitter fighting creeping ever closer to the city&#39;s holiest shrine.
121620
NAJAF, Iraq  - A radical cleric is preparing to hand control of a shrine at the heart of a Shi&#39;ite uprising in Iraq to religious authorities, but still rejects demands by the interim prime minister to disband his militia.
198357
BASRA, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric headed  for Najaf on Thursday to try to get rebels inside a holy shrine  to leave and bring an end to three weeks of bloody fighting  that has killed hundreds.
731566
Iraqi political and religious leaders prepared to go to the holy city of Najaf on Tuesday in a last-ditch bid to persuade a radical Shi'ite cleric to end a rebellion that has killed hundreds and rattled oil markets.
701140
NAJAF, Iraq - Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed Thursday to a peace deal presented by Iraq's top Shiite cleric, who brought his enormous authority to bear in an attempt to end three weeks of fighting in the holy city of Najaf, a top al-Sistani aide said.    Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential cleric among Iraq's Shiite majority, reached the deal in direct talks with al-Sadr in the evening, only hours after making a dramatic return to Najaf...
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...
442412
A spokesman for leading Shia authority Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani tells reporters outside the ailing cleric&#39;s Najaf home that a peaceful resolution to the standoff that has marred the city is within reach.