Najaf cleric offers to disarm if U.S. pulls out

NAJAF, Iraq – U.S. forces suspended a major offensive against militants in Najaf on Friday, and aides to Muqtada al-Sadr told Iraqi negotiators the rogue Shiite cleric was prepared to disarm his followers in exchange for a list of demands including an American withdrawal from the holy city and amnesty for all his fighters.

The negotiations to end nine days of clashes in Najaf came as al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia appeared to cease most attacks in the city.

Before the pause in the fighting, aides to the cleric said al-Sadr was slightly injured early Friday, suffering shrapnel wounds to the face, chest and shoulder as he met with followers near the revered Imam Ali Shrine, where many of the militants were hiding. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he could not confirm that al-Sadr had been wounded.

U.S. troops and Iraqi officials want to ensure that any new truce would eliminate the flaws of the previous agreements, including one that ended a two-month uprising in early June. Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia repeatedly violated that cease-fire, shooting at police, burying caches of weapons in Najaf’s vast cemetery and using the time to regroup, according to U.S. officials and witnesses.

In Washington, D.C., Powell said he hoped the insurgent leader would respond “in due course” to charges placed against him by Iraqi authorities. An Iraqi judge has released an arrest warrant for al-Sadr in connection with the death of a moderate Shiite leader, Abdul Maid al-Khoel, in April 2003, two days after the fall of Baghdad. Al-Sadr denies any role in the murder.

U.S. officials were not involved in Friday’s talks, Iraqi officials said. Iraqi national security adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie and Defense Minister Hazem Shalan were among the officials negotiating with al-Sadr’s aides.

One of the cleric’s assistants, Ahmed al-Shaibany, described the talks as “serious and positive, but difficult.”

Another, Sheik Ali Smeisim, said al-Sadr wanted a U.S. withdrawal from Najaf, the freeing of all Mahdi Army fighters in detention and an amnesty for the militants, among other demands, in exchange for his disarming his followers and ending the fighting.

Despite the talks, al-Sadr lashed out at the United States, which he said was intent on “occupying the whole world.” The fiery sermon was read on his behalf during Friday prayers at the Kufa Mosque near Najaf.

“The presence of occupation in Iraq has made our country an unbearable hell,” he said.

Associated Press

Shiites march past a U.S. soldier in a show of support for Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday in Najaf, Iraq.

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