Top Cleric Returns, Seeks Peace in Najaf
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NAJAF, Iraq - 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.    Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani, who wields enormous influence among Shiite Iraqis, had previously declined to get involved in resolving the violent conflicts roiling the nation, and it was unclear why he suddenly changed his mind...
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Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most senior Shia cleric in Iraq, unexpectedly returned to his homeland yesterday after nearly three weeks overseas during which anarchy has rapidly taken hold.
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Iraq&#39;s most powerful Shiite cleric returned to the country on Wednesday from a hospital stay in London, calling for a mass demonstration
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Iraq's top Shia cleric begins a peace mission in the city of Najaf, hours after a deadly attack on nearby Kufa.
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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 - 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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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A pared-down delegation of Iraqis arrived in Najaf by helicopter Tuesday to present radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr with a peace proposal aimed at ending the violent insurgency wracking the holy city.    Despite the delegation's presence there, fighting intensified in Najaf, with at least one U.S...
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A portrait of an angry Moqtada al-Sadr greeted visitors to the Imam Ali Mosque in the holy city of Najaf. The militant Shiite cleric and hundreds of armed followers were effectively
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NAJAF, Iraq -- Iraq&#39;s top Shi&#39;ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, made a dramatic return to Najaf on Thursday and won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia and US-Iraqi forces.
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26 August 2004 -- Iraq&#39;s top Shi&#39;ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, arrived in the city of Al-Najaf today in a bid to end a weeks-long conflict between US forces and militiamen loyal to Shi&#39;ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
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The leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia movement has quietly resumed seminary studies toward attaining the title of ayatollah Â a goal that could make firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army an even more formidable power broker in Iraq.
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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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Iraq&#39;s Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, left the southern Iraqi city of Basra early on Thursday on his way to the troubled central city of Najaf, where he hopes to bring an end to fighting between US forces and supporters of rebel
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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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AYATOLLAH Ali al-Sistaniâs supporters say he put principle over politics in risking his reputation - and life - by returning to his adopted home town of Najaf yesterday.
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Description: Iraq&#39;s top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is reportedly successful in reaching a peace to end three weeks of violence between allied US and Iraqi government troops and militiamen loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
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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.