Iraqi Clerics Reach Peace Deal in Najaf

Iraq’s revered Shiite Muslim leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, brokered a deal for the withdrawal of a radical cleric’s forces from this city’s sacred mosque compound early today, an action that suspended three weeks of fighting that had left scores dead.

On a loudspeaker outside Imam Ali Mosque, an announcement attributed to the cleric, Muqtada Sadr, asked his remaining fighters in the compound to leave by 10 a.m.

“Do not be sad, for you have done your utmost,” the announcement said. “If you do not follow these orders, then you will bring problems to me and to you.”

Within 1 1/2 hours of the order, militiamen were collecting weapons and ammunition on wooden carts and stretchers outside the mosque. A group of fighters chanted Sadr’s name as they wheeled AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, hand grenades and ammunition belts through the plaza.

It was not immediately clear what would be done with the weapons.

Thousands of people who had been called to Najaf by Sistani entered the shrine, stopping to pray and then filing out. The militiamen could blend in with the crowd as it left the Old City.

Television footage showed the crowd inside the mosque was calm and no weapons were in evidence. All of the visitors, along with Sadr’s militia, appeared to have left the shrine before its doors were closed about 10:15 a.m.

The agreement to end the standoff, reported by aides to Sistani and an official of the interim Iraqi government, came hours after the ayatollah’s unexpected return from Britain, where he underwent three weeks of medical treatment.

Sistani’s spokesman had publicly called on Iraqi authorities Thursday to allow the ayatollah’s followers, who had gathered on the city outskirts, to flood into town and pray at the shrine early this morning.

Shortly after dawn, thousands of devotees marched down the main street of Najaf’s Old City and into the grounds of the mosque, which Sadr’s militia had occupied for months. The crowd chanted “God is great” and other religious slogans.

Small-arms fire could be heard nearby, but it was unclear whether it was celebratory or hostile. U.S. troops were under orders not to interfere with people leaving the mosque, but could return fire if attacked.

Plainclothes men checked for weapons as the marchers filtered through the gates of the compound shortly after 7 a.m. No Iraqi police officers, Iraqi national guardsmen or U.S. troops were visible nearby.

Under the terms of the deal announced by Sistani’s aides, U.S. troops would pull out of Najaf, security in the city would be turned over to Iraqi police, and Sadr and his fighters would be allowed to remain free.

The marchers appeared upbeat but reverential as they entered the compound. One, a 57-year-old railroad engineer from Basra, expressed satisfaction that the long standoff between Sadr’s militia and Iraqi and U.S. military forces appeared to be ending, at least for the moment.

“We wanted an end to the problems,” Mudhir Ifrit said. “We’re all Muslims and we’re all Shiite brothers.”

In Washington, the State Department had reacted cautiously late Thursday, noting that the exact terms of the agreement remained unclear. Officials called on all involved to help restore order to the city.

“We urge all parties to play a constructive role in reestablishing law and order in Najaf,” department spokeswoman Darla Jordan said.

She said the U.S. military -- which has fought fierce battles with Sadr’s militia in Najaf’s massive cemetery and the alleys and buildings of its Old City -- would respect a cease-fire called Thursday by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

“The most important thing now is the holy city of Najaf and how to end the crisis and stop the fighting,” Sistani spokesman Hamid Khafaf told reporters outside a walled home where he said Sistani, Sadr and their entourages held talks Thursday.

The post-midnight accord capped an extraordinary day that included battles and bombings and a massive convergence of Sistani’s followers on the city.

Three weeks of skirmishes have caused heavy damage in Najaf and cost hundreds of lives, including those of 11 Americans, U.S. authorities say.

The fighting has seriously threatened the government of Allawi, who took a hard line against the militiamen -- with U.S. military assistance -- but avoided storming the mosque out of fear of a backlash from Shiites around the world.

Early Thursday, police said, mortar shells hit a mosque in neighboring Kufa, killing at least two dozen worshipers, many of whom had apparently come to show their support for Sistani. It was unclear Thursday who was responsible. U.S. forces said they had not fired in the area. It was the latest of several recent violent incidents in the town. Sadr regularly led Friday prayers at the mosque, whose walls were damaged by the blasts.

For weeks, many here had said that the septuagenarian Sistani was the only personage with sufficient stature to face off with the scowling young Sadr, who represents a more activist strain of Shiite Islam.

Sistani’s office helped negotiate an end to a series of clashes in the spring between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to Sadr.

But the ayatollah had left Iraq for London as the recent fighting began, to receive treatment for a heart ailment.

The frail-looking Sistani returned to Najaf on Thursday afternoon, traveling from Basra more than 200 miles to the south, in a police-escorted convoy.

The Iranian-born religious scholar had been kept informed of the chaos threatening his city, where he lives in a simple home and spends much of his time reading Koranic texts. He has been active in trying to ensure that Iraq’s long-suppressed Shiite majority emerges as the major political force in the new Iraq.

Meanwhile, the virulently anti-U.S. Sadr -- scion of a prominent family of Shiite activists -- had not been seen publicly for days and was rumored to have fled the city, and possibly the country, during the intermittent U.S. assault on his militia. He has been sought by Iraqi authorities on suspicion of being involved in the slaying of a rival cleric last year.

Sadr’s forces had said they were willing to turn control of the mosque over to Najaf’s religious leadership, but they had continued to hold it for months.

Sistani’s plan seemed designed to let Sadr’s forces leave with their dignity intact, avoiding arrest by the U.S. and Iraqi forces.

After hearing the announcement to leave the mosque and abandon their weapons, some armed Sadr militia members outside the compound appeared relieved.

“We want a solution,” said militiaman Mustafa Karim, 20. “God willing, we have a solution.”

The Sistani-brokered plan is clearly a risky one based on several assumptions, including the support of U.S. authorities and Sadr keeping his word.

U.S. military officials have said they would abide by the wishes of Allawi, who has headed the interim government that took over two months ago.

In the end, Sistani’s broad moral authority evidently convinced Iraqi officials that his solution was the best option.

Only Thursday morning, U.S. troops were engaged in an intense round of house-to-house combat outside the mosque, while Iraqi special forces were ready to storm the shrine.

About the time of Sistani’s arrival, Iraqi authorities announced the 24-hour cease-fire. U.S. and Iraqi forces would maintain their positions around the mosque, officials said, but allow a safe exit for the fighters, whose numbers have dwindled in the last week of clashes with U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Dozens of people were reported killed or wounded in running gun battles that spread through Najaf and environs Thursday, as followers of Sistani and Sadr converged on the city.

A day earlier, Sistani’s aides had urged Shiites from across Iraq to help him push for a peaceful end to the standoff. Many followers heeded the call, and thousands of Shiites made their way to Najaf, which sits in a date-growing region about 100 miles south of Baghdad.

The faithful packed into cargo trucks, vans and cars, many of which displayed posters of Sistani. In some places along the road, the crush of vehicles brought traffic to a standstill.

In Kufa, near the end of their journey, many of them got out of their vehicles and walked, turning the main road to Najaf into a thick ribbon of Shiite faithful clad in traditional robes and checkered head scarves.

As the faithful marched, armed members of Sadr’s militia took up positions along the road and on surrounding streets in Kufa, brandishing automatic weapons and grenade launchers and adding to the sense that no force could yet boast full control over the area. One man pushed a wooden cart, then stopped and removed a blanket to reveal a large machine gun he was preparing to set up.

By late afternoon, an eerie calm had settled on Najaf as Sistani worked on what his aides called a plan to save the city and its gold-domed shrine from destruction.

By dusk Thursday, U.S. troops were holding their positions 50 to 100 yards from the mosque, awaiting word from commanders on their next move. With the exception of occasional gunfire, the cease-fire appeared to be holding.

“It’s surreal,” said Capt. Patrick McFall of the Army’s 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, standing about a block from the mosque and surveying the rows of broken buildings and littered streets.

“I don’t know why we’re doing this. And I look at the other side and wonder why they are doing it, too.”

At a U.S. military base on the northern edge of Najaf, exhausted troops in the mess hall abruptly grew quiet during a television report about the talks between Sistani and Sadr. Nearly every head in the tent turned to listen to the update.

“I just want to have this solved so we can get out of here,” one soldier said.

Times staff writers Patrick J. McDonnell in Baghdad and Tyler Marshall in Washington and special correspondents Raheem Salman and Said Rifai in Najaf and Salar Jaff in Baghdad contributed to this report.