Sistani returns as US forces trap Mehdi Army
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Iraq&#39;s Shi&#39;a spiritual leader rushed back from abroad on Wednesday to &quot;save Najaf&quot; after American forces smashed militia defences to trap hundreds of supporters of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the city&#39;s shrine.
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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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Moktada al-Sadr has quietly returned to Iraq after four months in Iran, according to U.S. intelligence reports.
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Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani resumed control over the Imam Ali shrine Friday while a final handful of militiamen loyal to a rebel Shiite cleric exited the compound after a deadly
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Guns were largely silent in Najaf today for the first time in weeks, after Iraq&#39;s top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to the holy city and swiftly won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia
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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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US troops and warplanes pounded Mehdi Army positions outside the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf early Sunday, US military officials said.
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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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NAJAF, Iraq : US forces unleashed a fresh wave of raids on positions held by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr&#39;s militia in Najaf, where hopes of seeing a peaceful resolution to the bloody siege of a revered Shiite shrine were fast fading.
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Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr launched a bloody two-month uprising in April that ended after a series of truces. Fighting between US forces and al-Sadr&#39;s Mahdi Army militia erupted again on Aug. 5 in Najaf.
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Analysis: The resolution of the bloody battle between Sadr's Mahdi army and the Iraqi army shows that the Iraqi government still doesn't have the necessary will to rein in the Shi'ite militias
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Moqtada Sadr, the radical Iraqi Shia cleric, appears in public for the first time since a US troop surge in Baghdad.
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The Iraqi Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, announces the "rebuilding" of his Mehdi Army militia.
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NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's top Shiite cleric returned to Najaf on Thursday in hopes of using the power of his popularity to bring an end to fighting in the holy city. U.S...
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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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The resumption of urban warfare over the past two weeks in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in Iraq reflects forces far beyond the Mehdi Army of radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr and the American-installed interim Iraqi government ...
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US forces renewed their assault yesterday on Mehdi Army positions in and around Najaf&#39;s old city with an early morning bombing raid and an advance which brought tanks at some points