NAJAF, Iraq – Hoping to end weeks of fighting in Najaf, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric unexpectedly returned home from Britain Wednesday armed with a new peace initiative and a call for Iraqis across the country to march on the holy city to demand an end to the fighting.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani, who wields enormous influence among Shiite Iraqis, had previously declined to get involved in resolving the violent conflicts roiling the nation, and it was unclear why he suddenly changed his mind. But his dramatic return from a nearly three-week trip to London, where he had gone for medical treatment, spread optimism that the crisis could be resolved peacefully.
Despite al-Sistani’s call for peace, heavy fighting persisted in Najaf’s Old City, the center of many of the clashes between militants loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and a combined Iraqi-U.S. force. Late Wednesday, U.S. warplanes bombed the area for the fourth night in a row and fierce skirmishes broke out. Huge blasts sporadically shook the city, and smoke rose into the night sky.
In nearby Kufa, unidentified gunmen shooting from an Iraqi Guard base killed two people and wounded five others who were taking part in what appeared to be a peaceful demonstration supporting al-Sadr, according to hospital officials.
Soon afterward, three mortar rounds, apparently targeting a police checkpoint, hit a civilian area in Kufa, killing two civilians, including an 8-year-old boy, and wounding four others, witnesses and hospital officials said.
A militant group said Wednesday it had kidnapped the brother-in-law of Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan and demanded he end all military operations in Najaf, according to a video obtained by Arab TV station Al-Jazeera.
The violence in the past three weeks in Najaf has killed scores of civilians, destroyed shops and homes in Najaf’s Old City and caused slight damage to the Imam Ali shrine, where al-Sadr’s followers have taken refuge.
Al-Sistani, 75, the nation’s most respected Shiite cleric, left for London on Aug. 6, one day after the clashes erupted. He underwent an angioplasty to unblock a coronary artery Aug. 13 and was recuperating when his office suddenly announced Wednesday morning he was returning to the country “to stop the bloodshed.”
Associated Press
Shiite Muslims gather Wednesday outside the place where Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani is resting in southern Iraq.
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