Top Cleric Returns, Seeks Peace in Najaf
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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric returned 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 - Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, made a dramatic return to Najaf on Thursday and swiftly won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia and U.S.-Iraqi forces.    The renegade Muqtada al-Sadr accepted the proposal in a face-to-face meeting Thursday night with the 75-year-old al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric...
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NAJAF (Iraq): With a peace plan, reached with the mutual consent of Sistani and Sadr, the apex Clerics of Iraq, the gates of the holy Shrine in Najaf were got open Thursday by a sea of weeping and chanting Muslims, ending the weeks-long siege of the
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Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, returned to the country on Wednesday and urged Iraqis to march on the "burning city" of Najaf, where fighting is creeping ever closer to its sacred shrine.
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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.
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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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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 - Guns were largely silent in Najaf for the first time in weeks and thousands of Iraqis thronged the revered Imam Ali shrine Friday after Iraq's top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to this holy city and won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end the fighting between his militia and U.S.-Iraqi forces.    The renegade Muqtada al-Sadr accepted the proposal in a face-to-face meeting Thursday night with the 75-year-old Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani...
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NAJAF, Iraq - Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed Thursday to a peace deal presented by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani to end three weeks of fighting in the holy city of Najaf, according to a top aide to al-Sistani.    Al-Sistani, the most influential cleric among Iraq's Shiite majority, reached the deal in direct talks with al-Sadr in the evening, only hours after making a dramatic return to Najaf...
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NAJAF, IRAQ - Militant leader Muqtada al-Sadr agreed on Thursday to a peace plan presented by Iraq&#39;s most revered Shia cleric, who rode into Najaf hours earlier to try to end the bloody three-week uprising.
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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  - Iraq's most revered cleric arrived  in Najaf Thursday to try to end a bloody three-week uprising  but attacks on crowds of Shi'ites that killed at least 74  inflamed tensions as tens of thousands converged on the city.
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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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Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resurfaced Friday after nearly four months in hiding and demanded U.S. troops leave Iraq, a development likely to complicate U.S. efforts to crack down on violence and broker political compromise in the country.
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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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Iraq's most revered Shi'ite leader persuaded a rebel cleric Thursday to accept a deal ending a three-week uprising in Najaf, after returning to the holy city amid bloody clashes that killed at least 74 people.
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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.