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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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Saturday that they handed over the keys to a revered Muslim shrine to Shiite religious leaders - a big step toward resolving a 2-week-old standoff in the holy city of Najaf.    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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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 -- Militia fighters began to leave the Shrine of Imam Ali yesterday, taking up positions outside the sacred site or fleeing the city, after rebellious Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr offered to return custody of the complex to moderate clerics.
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Iraq&#39;s interim defence minister has given Shi&#39;ite rebels in Najaf hours to surrender or face being &quot;wiped out&quot;. The ultimatum is the latest in a series of threats by the US-backed government to the militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Fighters loyal to Iraqi cleric  Moqtada al-Sadr retained their grip on the Imam Ali shrine in  Najaf on Saturday, dampening hopes that talks with religious  authorities would quickly end a two-week siege.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq&#39;s Defence Ministry has ordered Shi&#39;ite militiamen in Najaf to immediately lay down their weapons and leave a holy shrine in the city.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's defense minister gave  Shi'ite militiamen in the holy city of Najaf hours to surrender  on Wednesday, saying troops were preparing for a major assault.
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NAJAF, Iraq : Militiamen loyal to Moqtada Sadr were still holding Najaf&#39;s Imam Ali mosque Sunday, as smouldering violence and differences between Shiite leaders threatened to scupper efforts to end a weeks-long stand-off.
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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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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 - 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  - Top aides of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr prepared to hand over control of a holy shrine at the center of a crisis in Najaf on Friday to representatives of Iraq&#39;s top ayatollah, a Sadr spokesman said.
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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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President Pervez Musharraf gave clerics more time to persuade defiant militants to lay down their arms and surrender a mosque, security officials said.
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Pakistani Muslim clerics said on  Monday they were making a last-ditch bid to avert an assault on  militants holed up in a mosque after authorities issued what  they said was a last warning for them to surrender.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraqi security forces moved to  within 400 meters (yards) of a holy shrine in Najaf on Tuesday,  just hours after the government warned Shi'ite rebels inside  they would be killed if they did not surrender.