Najaf militants given hours to surrender or face lesson
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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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Anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his followers are ready to leave the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf if American-led forces pull back from the holy Shi&#39;ite site, an aide to Sadr says.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Sporadic gunfire echoed through Najaf on Friday after a night of heavy U.S. bombing that saw radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr call on his fighters to hand control of a revered Najaf shrine to top Shiite religious authorities...
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's government warned Shi'ite  cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday he would face a military  strike within hours unless he ended his uprising, disarmed his  militia and quit a shrine in the city of Najaf.
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Iraq&#39;s Defence Ministry has ordered Shiite militiamen in Najaf to immediately lay down their weapons and leave a holy shrine.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi made a "final call" Thursday to Shiite militants in Najaf to disarm and withdraw from a revered shrine or face a massive onslaught by Iraqi forces to root them out.    The last-ditch warning came shortly after the militants' leader, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, rejected those demands with a vow to seek "martyrdom or victory." Just hours before al-Sadr's defiant statement, fighters presumably from his Mahdi Army militia bombarded a Najaf police station with mortar rounds, killing seven policemen and injuring 31...
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Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on his fighters to lay down arms and leave the holy city of Najaf. It follows a deal brokered by Iraq&#39;s top Shiite cleric that ended weeks of violence.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq warned Shi'ite rebels besieged  in a shrine in Najaf to surrender or face an attack later on  Tuesday that would "wipe them out," as government forces  entered the battle zone for the first time.
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Negotiations over the embattled city of Najaf took a new and complicated turn Thursday when an official of Iraq's interim government issued fresh demands to be met by rebellious Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, accompanied by warnings of an imminent military offensive at the shrine where Sadr's militia is holed up.
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NAJAF, Iraq - The handover of the Najaf shrine from Moqtada Sadrâs militiamen to the Shia religious leadership has been suspended until further notice, a spokesman for the radical leader said on Sunday.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accepted a peace plan Wednesday calling for his militiamen to disarm and leave their hideout in a revered Shiite shrine, raising hopes of ending a battle that has threatened to undermine Iraq's fledgling interim government.    But gunfire and explosions crackled across Najaf after the deal was announced and there was no indication of whether there could be a quick end to two weeks of fighting between al-Sadr's forces and U.S...
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NAJAF, Iraq - An Iraqi Cabinet minister said Thursday that Iraqi forces could begin an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr within hours, despite the firebrand cleric's acceptance of a peace proposal.    To prevent an imminent attack on his forces, who are holed up in the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, al-Sadr must immediately disarm his Mahdi Army militia and hand over its weapons to the authorities, Minister of State Qassim Dawoud said...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Saturday that they had handed over the keys to a revered Muslim shrine in the holy city of Najaf to top Shiite religious leaders, a move that marks a crucial step toward ending two weeks of fighting.    The militants, however, remain in control of the Imam Ali Shrine while final details of the transfer are worked out, said al-Sadr aide Ahmed al-Shaibany...
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Iraqi militants who said they captured a  U.S. journalist last week have threatened to kill him within 48  hours, if U.S. forces do not pull out from the holy city of  Najaf, Al Jazeera television reported on Thursday.
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Iraq's interim defense minister warned Shi'ite rebels besieged in Najaf's Imam Ali shrine to surrender or face an attack later on Tuesday that would "wipe them out."
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NAJAF, Iraq -- Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday told his army of followers to hand control of a revered Najaf shrine to top Shi&#39;a religious authorities, hours after US forces bombed militant positions and Iraq&#39;s prime ...
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Iraqi security forces tightened their grip around a key shrine in Najaf yesterday after the interim government warned Shia rebels inside they must surrender or die.