Al-Sadr eases grip on shrine

NAJAF, Iraq – Militants loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said today that they handed over the keys to a revered Muslim shrine to Shiite religious leaders – a big step toward resolving a two-week standoff off in the holy city of Najaf.

The keys were handed over to representatives of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who is in a London hospital for treatment of a heart problem, said al-Sadr aide Ahmed al-Shaibany.

On Friday, militiamen kept their guns outside the holy site after issuing a surprise offer to give up control of the Imam Ali Shrine to Shiite Muslim religious leaders.

The removal of weapons and pledge to hand over keys to religious authorities was seen as a move toward ending fighting that has killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in fighting between al-Sadr’s militia and a joint U.S.-Iraq force.

Offering a face-saving way out of the crisis, a peaceful pullout mediated by religious authorities would allow Iraq’s interim government to keep its pledge not to negotiate and let the militants say they had not capitulated to U.S.-led troops.

The development came just a day after al-Sadr’s militants rejected a government ultimatum to withdraw from the shrine or face an assault on the walled compound. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi backed off the threat after the new offer from al-Sadr, and his national security adviser reiterated that the government wanted al-Sadr to join the political process.

Al-Sadr has said previously he would not give in to the government demand to disband his militia and take up politics. It remained unclear how the government would react if that demand went unmet.

Sporadic explosions and gunfire were heard in the streets of this holy city, but the clashes were far fewer and less intense than in previous days. Fighting between Thursday and Friday mornings killed 77 people and wounded 70 others, officials said.

Armed militants could be seen around the shrine before sundown, circulating in the Old City district, but any who entered the Imam Ali compound left their guns with comrades outside, then reclaimed them when they exited. Inside the compound, unarmed fighters mingled with civilians.

An Associated Press reporter saw no weapons in the shrine. It was not possible to check whether any weapons were hidden inside, though militia leaders denied any were. No police or Iraqi security forces were in the shrine.

After nightfall, al-Sadr’s aides were still negotiating details of the shrine’s handover to representatives of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who is in a London hospital for treatment of a heart problem.

It was not clear if the militia wanted its men to be able to stay in the compound, which they have used as a refuge.

The government was not part of the talks, and it continued to demand that al-Sadr disband his militia and join in peaceful politics and help create a democracy for Iraqis.

A previous uprising led by al-Sadr in the spring ended with a series of truces that kept his militia intact to fight in a new round of violence that started Aug. 5. The government and the U.S. military have said any resolution to the fighting should ensure there is no third round.

Meanwhile, insurgents ambushed a U.S. military patrol with a bomb Friday in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing two American soldiers and wounding three, said Maj. Neal O’Brien, a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division.

The military also reported that two Marines had been killed in action in the restive Anbar province, one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. As of Thursday, 947 U.S. personnel had died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

West of Baghdad, U.S. warplanes staged two airstrikes Friday in Fallujah, which is a hotbed of Sunni Muslim insurgents. Two people were killed and six injured in the first attack just after midnight, said Dia’a al-Jumeili, a doctor at Fallujah’s main hospital. A second missile hit an industrial area in the morning, wounding three people.