BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi delegates delivered a peace proposal to aides of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf on Tuesday, but the militant cleric refused to meet with them. Explosions and gunfire echoed across the holy city.
The delegation of eight, much smaller than the originally planned 60 members, was kept waiting for three hours at the Imam Ali shrine, where some of al-Sadr’s fighters have holed up, but were not allowed to meet with the cleric and left Najaf after talking with his aides.
Al-Sadr did not show up because of the “heavy shelling from the planes and tanks of the U.S. forces,” said an aide, Ahmed al-Shaibany. the U.S. military denied conducting operations during the meeting.
Both the mediators and Al-Sadr’s deputies described their talks as positive. Al-Shaibany said the delegation would return today to meet with al-Sadr himself. Delegate Rajah Khozi said she hoped the group would be able to return today or Thursday, but there were no immediate plans for such a trip.
The peace mission was organized by the Iraqi National Conference, a gathering of more than 1,200 religious, political and civic leaders that was extended late Tuesday into a fourth day because of disagreements over how to elect a council that is to act as a watchdog over the interim government until elections in January.
The delegation’s peace initiative demanded that al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia disarm, leave the Imam Ali shrine and become a political group in exchange for amnesty.
“This is not a negotiation. This is a friendly mission to convey the message of the National Conference,” said delegation head Hussein al-Sadr, a distant relative of the cleric.
Al-Sadr aides said they welcomed the mission, but not the peace proposal.
“The demands of the committee are impossible. The shrine compound must be in the hands of the religious authorities. They are asking us to leave Najaf while we are the sons of Najaf,” said one aide, Sheik Ali Smeisim.
The fighting in Najaf, especially near the revered Imam Ali shrine, where al-Sadr’s militants are holed up, has angered many among the country’s majority Shiite population and cast a pall over the National Conference, which had been intended to project an image of amity and inclusiveness on the road to democracy.
The U.S. military says the fighting in Najaf has killed hundreds of militants, though the militants deny that. Eight U.S. soldiers and at least 40 Iraqi police have been killed as well.
A U.S. warplane caused an explosion in the huge cemetery, site of many clashes between U.S. forces and Shiite militants. U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Thomas Johnson said the plane fired “one precision guided missile on a building in the cemetery where Muqtada militiamen with RPGs were attacking U.S. soldiers.”
Al-Sadr militants attacked U.S. patrols in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood, sparking gunbattles Tuesday evening, U.S. Army Capt. Brian O’Malley said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Al-Sadr militiamen also fought a series of gunbattles with British troops in the southern city of Basra, with one British soldier and one militant reported killed.
Associated Press
U.S. soldiers patrol the streets of Najaf, Iraq, on Tuesday.
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