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 to demand an end to the fighting.    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 Sistani has just arrived in Najaf to try to end the stand-off involving Shia fighters led by the radical cleric, Moqtada Sadr.
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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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NAJAF, Iraq  - 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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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 ...
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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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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric made a  sudden return to the country Wednesday and said he had a plan  to end an uprising in the "burning city" of Najaf, where  fighting is creeping ever closer to its holiest shrine.
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NAJAF, Iraq  - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric made a  sudden return to the country on Wednesday and said he had a  plan to end an uprising in the "burning city" of Najaf, where  fighting is creeping ever closer to its holiest shrine.
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NAJAF, Iraq : Iraq&#39;s top Shiite Muslim clerics, back in control of Najaf&#39;s Imam Ali shrine after a four-month militia occupation, met amid the ruins of the city as life spluttered back to normality.
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Iraq&#39;s top Shi&#39;ite cleric is to unveil a peace deal that could end the fighting around the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf. Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani is calling for foreign troops to leave Najaf, Iraqi police
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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants filed out of the Imam Ali Shrine, closed the doors behind them and turned over the keys to Iraq's top Shiite cleric Friday, symbolizing their acceptance of a peace deal to end three weeks of devastating fighting in this holy city.    By Friday afternoon, dozens of Iraqi police and national guardsmen surrounded the shrine compound - many kissing its doors and weeping - as the government began to re-establish control over the Old City of Najaf...
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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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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 influential Shi'ite  cleric headed for the battered city of Najaf on Thursday to try  to persuade rebels holed up inside a sacred shrine to leave and  end a three-week uprising that has killed hundreds.
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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 demands for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and paint himself as a leader for all Iraqis.
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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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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's top Shiite cleric unexpectedly returned to Iraq from Britain on Wednesday armed with a new peace initiative and a call for Iraqis across the country to march on the holy city to demand an end to weeks of fighting in Najaf.    But a mortar attack on the main mosque in the nearby city of Kufa killed 25 people and wounded 60 others Thursday, hospital officials and witnesses said, a blow to hopes that the crisis could be resolved peacefully...