Iraq Makes 'Final Call' to Defiant Sadr on Najaf
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NAJAF, Iraq  - U.S. warplanes Thursday pounded  areas near a holy shrine where radical Shi'ite militia were  holed up after their leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, defied a final  demand from Iraq's interim prime minister to disarm.
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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...
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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.    Meanwhile, a gunbattle between U.S...
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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...
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Rebel Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr  is in the "final hours" before a military assault unless he  ends his stand in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq's government  said on Thursday.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Delegates at Iraq's National Conference called on radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to abandon his uprising against U.S. and Iraqi troops and pull his fighters out of a holy shrine in Najaf...
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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 ...
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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  - 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.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Prime Minister Ayad Allawi issued a "final call" Thursday to Shiite insurgents to disarm and withdraw from a revered shrine after his government threatened a massive onslaught by Iraqi forces. As the peace deal for Najaf unraveled, militants bombarded a police station with mortar rounds, killing seven police and injuring 31 others...
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NAJAF, Iraq  - A radical cleric prepared to hand  control of a shrine at the heart of a Shi'ite uprising in Iraq  to religious authorities on Friday, but still rejected demands  by the interim prime minister to disband his militia.
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BAGHDAD, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraqi Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan on Wednesday demanded Shiite militants in the holy city of Najaf surrender within hours, or the Iraqi troops would launch a large-scale attack on them.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed Thursday to a peace deal presented by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani to end three weeks of fighting in the holy city of Najaf, according to a top aide to al-Sistani.    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...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric returned home from Britain on Wednesday to help broker an end to nearly three weeks of fighting in Najaf and is calling on his followers to join him in a march to reclaim the holy city, his spokesmen and witnesses said.    Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani return came as heavy fighting persisted in Najaf's Old City...
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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.
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NAJAF, IRAQ - Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr faces an Iraqi offensive on his Najaf stronghold within hours, despite his apparent agreement to lay down arms, Iraqi cabinet officials said Thursday.
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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 ...