Top Shia leader returns to Iraq
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Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, seen by many as crucial to ending the Najaf crisis, is back in Iraq from the UK.
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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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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 leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is reported to have prepared a peace plan to try to end the violence in the city of Najaf.
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IRAQ&#39;S most powerful Shiite cleric returned to the country last night, calling on Iraqis to march on the battle-scarred city of 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 hit a mosque filled with Iraqis preparing to join his march, killing 27 people and wounding 63...
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MARK COLVIN: To Iraq where the Shi&#39;ite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani is on his way back to the holy city of Najaf, with around ten thousand followers joining his convoy from Basra in Iraq&#39;s south.
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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&#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.
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Iraqi Sunni leader Tariq al-Hashemi holds talks with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shia cleric.
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The political bloc of fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Tuesday it had resumed participation in Iraq's parliament, suspended last month in protest over an attack on a revered Shi'ite mosque.
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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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KUFA, Iraq  - Fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday to renew his opposition to U.S. forces in Iraq and paint himself as a leader for all Iraqis.
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Iraq welcomes Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr's freeze on the activities of his Mehdi Army militia for six months.
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TONY JONES: Well, back to our top story and the Grand Ayatollah of Iraq&#39;s majority Shiite population has made a dramatic arrival in the besieged holy city of Najaf in a long convoy of vehicles.
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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.
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Representatives of Iraq's interim government have visited Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in London where he is recovering after medical treatment, a statement said.