- NAJAF (Reuters) - 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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- Aides to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said the cleric,
the most powerful voice of moderation in the tormented country, would unveil
an initiative to get Shi'ite rebels out of the Imam Ali mosque. They gave
no details.
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- Sistani also called for Iraqis to march on Najaf, something
that could escalate passions among majority Shi'ites.
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- Sistani arrived in the southern city of Basra from Kuwait,
having undergone heart treatment in London for three weeks. On Thursday
he plans to head to Najaf, his adopted home.
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- His return came as U.S. and Iraqi forces tightened their
grip around Mehdi Army militants loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr holed up in the mosque, advancing to within 300 meters (yards)
of the rebel-held shrine.
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- "We ask all believers to volunteer to go with us
to Najaf," Sistani said in a statement read out on his behalf in Basra
by his aide Hayder al-Safi. "I have come for the sake of Najaf and
I will stay in Najaf until the crisis ends."
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- Sistani's aides said he would depart for Najaf at 7 a.m.
(0300 GMT) on Thursday with his supporters. They urged U.S. forces encircling
the gold-domed mosque to leave.
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- Sistani, 73, reached Basra from Kuwait in a convoy of
more than a dozen vehicles led by police cars with sirens wailing.
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- His hospitalization in London coincided with the outbreak
of the three-week revolt by Sadr, a young cleric who has challenged the
collegiate leadership of the Najaf clergy headed by Sistani.
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- The call to march appears to be an attempt by the Iranian-born
cleric to reclaim some of the political ground captured during the uprising
by Sadr, who has painted himself as the face of anti-U.S. resistance and
icon to the poor masses.
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- Sadr aide Mahmoud al-Soudani told Al Arabiya television
the Mehdi militia were prepared for talks to halt the fighting, which has
killed hundreds, undermined interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and rattled
world oil markets.
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- "We are ready to respond to any call from Sayed
Sistani or anyone else to stop the bloodshed," he said.
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- Sadr also called for his own followers to march on Najaf.
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- Battles Rage
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- In the heart of Najaf's old city, U.S. tanks fired shells
and troops advanced closer to the mosque as U.S. helicopters strafed militia
targets. Gunfire rocked the area and smoke rose.
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- Asked if the U.S. military would suspend operations following
Sistani's return, U.S. Rear Admiral Greg Slavonic said: "The Iraqi
leadership is leading this effort ... We will follow whatever course of
action the Iraqi leadership decides."
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- In a statement, Allawi welcomed Sistani's return, but
did not call on the cleric to play any role in the crisis.
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- U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant Michael Throckmortan, speaking
not far from the mosque, said U.S. and Iraqi forces were trying to isolate
the militia before an attack.
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- "What we are trying to do is shape the battlefield
to create the big picture. We are trying to do everything that will give
us the advantage," Throckmortan told Reuters.
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- Rebels Entrenched
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- Iraqi Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan had warned the
Mehdi fighters they would be wiped out if they did not leave the mosque
by Tuesday evening. U.S. and Iraqi officials have said only Iraqi forces
would storm the mosque.
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- Asked about reports some militia had fled the shrine,
Throckmortan said: "I've seen no evidence they are leaving."
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- Some 500 Iraqi troops have been deployed around the shrine.
Police also arrested senior Sadr aide Ali Smeisim in Najaf.
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- In an interview broadcast on the BBC earlier on Wednesday,
one of Sistani's aides in London called on Sadr's militia to leave the
shrine and added U.S. troops should not be involved in bringing the fighting
to an end.
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- Sayed Mohamed Musawi said the situation could be solved
only by the Iraqi government alone.
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- "We always say that the Americans should be very
far from the holy places," he said.
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- Some 2,000 U.S. marines backed by aircraft have done
most of the fighting, pounding rebels whose main weapons are AK-47 assault
rifles, rocket propelled grenades and mortars. But any raid by U.S. troops
on the shrine could trigger mass protests.
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- Elsewhere, Poland's embassy in Baghdad was struck by
two mortars but no one was wounded, a government source in Warsaw said.
Poland has 2,500 troops in Iraq.
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- U.S. aircraft also attacked targets in the staunchly
Sunni Iraqi city of Falluja early on Wednesday, killing three people and
wounding four others, a hospital official said.
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