Iraq's Sistani Returns, Bids to End Najaf Crisis
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric made a  sudden return to the country on 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.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric arrived  in Najaf Thursday to try to end a bloody three-week uprising as  tensions rose sharply following attacks in a nearby town that  killed 45 people and wounded 170.
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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.
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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.
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Iraq&#39;s Shi&#39;a spiritual leader rushed back from abroad on Wednesday to &quot;save Najaf&quot; after American forces smashed militia defences to trap hundreds of supporters of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the city&#39;s shrine.
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Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq&#39;s foremost Shiite cleric, wants US-led military forces to leave Najaf and nearby Kufa as a condition for establishing peace with cleric Moqtada al
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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.
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Tuesday: A Shiite insurgency appeared to be weakening as Iraqi forces moved to within 200 yards of the Imam Ali Shrine. Wednesday: Iraq&#39;s top Shiite cleric returned home with a peace initiative demanding an end to the fighting in Najaf.
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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.
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By Abdul Hussein Al-Obeidi, Associated Press, 8/26/2004 08:16. NAJAF, Iraq  Iraq&#39;s top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to Najaf at the head of a massive convoy Thursday hoping to end three weeks of
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Najaf - Iraq&#39;s most revered Shi&#39;a leader persuaded a rebel cleric to accept a deal ending a three-week uprising in this holy city on Thursday, after returning amid bloody clashes that killed at least 74 people.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's top Shiite cleric returned to Najaf on Thursday in hopes of using the power of his popularity to bring an end to fighting in the holy city. U.S...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to Najaf at the head of a massive convoy Thursday hoping to end three weeks of fighting in the holy city, but hours earlier a mortar barrage slammed into a mosque filled with Iraqis preparing to join his march, killing 27 people and wounding 63.    Along with the mortar attack, another group of thousands of marchers heading into Najaf from its sister-city Kufa came under fire from an Iraqi National Guard base...
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Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani, the great Shia marjaâ taqlid (source of emulation) based in Najaf, returned to the city last Thursday in order to resume his pivotal role in resolving the Najaf crisis.
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The country&#39;s most revered Shiite cleric returned to Iraq today after surgery in Britain, raising hopes that the rebellion here against the American
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Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric 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 - U.S. tanks and troops rolled back into the center of Najaf and battled with Shiite militants Sunday, reigniting violence in the holy city just as delegates in Baghdad opened a conference meant to be a landmark in the country's movement toward democracy...