Thousands March to Holy Shrine in Najaf

By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq - Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters to lay down their arms and leave the area as thousands of Iraqis thronged the revered Imam Ali shrine Friday after he and the Iraqi government agreed to a peace proposal by Iraq (news - web sites)'s top Shiite cleric to end three weeks of fighting in Najaf.

Al-Sadr issued the order in a statement to his Mahdi Army militia from his office in Najaf that also was broadcast through loudspeakers at the shrine, which militants have used as a stronghold and refuge throughout their standoff with a combined U.S.-Iraqi force.

"To all my brothers in Mahdi Army ... you should leave Kufa and Najaf without your weapons, along with the peaceful masses," his statement said.

Dozens of militants complied with the order, piling Kalashnikov rifles in front of al-Sadr's office. Thousands of al-Sadr's militiamen were still believed to be armed in the city, however.

Al-Sadr accepted the peace proposal in a face-to-face meeting Thursday night with the 75-year-old Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani. Hours afterward, Iraq's interim government also agreed to the deal.

Early Friday, thousands of people marched through the streets and thronged the Imam Ali shrine, one of Shia Islam's holiest. The militiamen had pulled their arms out of it last week but remained holed up there.

Police frisked those entering the shrine for weapons, while revelers held hands together in the air and chanted "Thanks be to God!" Many kissed shrine doors as they entered.

U.S. soldiers looked on as people passed by in streets leading to the shrine compound. Army 1st Lt. Chris Kent said the agreement "appears to be a final resolution. That's what it looks like right now."

Police briefly exchanged fire with militants in one part of town, however, and some U.S. troops were still receiving occasional sniper-fire. Nevertheless, the fierce clashes of previous days had ended and most parts of the city were calm.

Al-Sistani's highly publicized, 11th-hour peace mission would almost certainly boost his already high prestige in Iraq and cloak him in a statesman's mantle, showing that only he had the ability to force an accord between two sides that loathe each other.

The influential cleric returned to Iraq after heart treatment in London to intervene for the first time in the bloody conflict, drawing thousands of followers who marched on Najaf and massed on its outskirts.

In the 24 hours before al-Sistani entered the holy city, more than 90 Iraqis were killed in fighting — including 27 killed when mortars barraged a mosque in neighboring Kufa, where thousands had gathered to march into Najaf in support of al-Sistani's mission.

Fighting eased in Najaf after al-Sistani arrived, and the U.S. military and the Iraqi government called a 24-hour ceasefire.

But State Minister Qassim Dawoud, announcing the administration's acceptance, was optimistic. "Brothers, we have entered the door to peace," he said. He added that the government would not try to arrest al-Sadr, who is sought in the slaying of a rival cleric last year.

The five-point plan calls for Najaf and Kufa to be declared weapons-free cities, for all foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf, for police to be in charge of security, for the government to compensate those harmed by the fighting, and for a census to be taken to prepare for elections expected in the country by January.

There was no immediate word if the U.S. military would accept the provisions on the agreement calling on its forces to leave Najaf. In Washington, a senior Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said only: "We've seen the developments. We're watching them very closely."

Dawoud said U.S. and coalition forces would pull out of Najaf as soon as interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi ordered them to.

Al-Sistani aide Hamed al-Khafaf announced al-Sadr's acceptance and suggested fighters from his Mahdi Army militia would leave the Imam Ali Shrine.

"There will be a mechanism that will preserve the dignity of everyone in getting out of the holy shrine, and you'll see this in the coming hours," al-Khafaf told Al-Jazeera television.

The shrine, in Najaf's Old City, has been the center of fighting, but U.S. troops have tried to avoid damaging it, fearing it would anger Shiites.

After the cease-fire was called, one platoon of U.S. soldiers was holed up in a multistoried office-building, poking weapons out of broken windows and scanning devastated streets for any signs of militants. A handful took advantage of the quiet to sleep — a relative luxury after days of fierce clashes, according to Associated Press photographer Jim MacMillan, who is embedded with the soldiers.

Al-Sistani's immense moral authority brings more hope for the new peace plan than previous ones.

As the most senior of four clerics in Iraq holding the rank of grand ayatollah, al-Sistani is one of the most respected men in the country, esteemed by Iraqis of all religious factions. He is more popular among Iraqi Shiites than al-Sadr, who is in his early 30s and of a far lower clerical rank.

The elder cleric has consistently opposed violence as a way to end the U.S.-led occupation. He has also bucked the authority of the United States in the past, giving him credibility in the eyes of Shiites who consider the current Iraqi government beholden to the United States.

Thousands of Iraqis had flocked to Najaf on Thursday after al-Sistani called for a peace march but were blocked from entering by Iraqi police.

Al-Sistani asked the government to allow the demonstrators to visit the Imam Ali Shrine compound provided they leave by 10 a.m. Friday, al-Khafaf said.

Al-Sistani's 30-vehicle convoy drove 220 miles from the southern city of Basra to Najaf, joined by at least a thousand cars from towns along the way, where supporters on the street cheered the ayatollah.

From Wednesday morning until Thursday morning, 55 people were killed and 376 injured during clashes in Najaf, the Health Ministry said. At least 40 people were killed in Kufa over the same period, including the victims in the mosque.