Militants filed out of the revered Imam Ali Shrine and turned its keys over to representatives of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric today in the wake of a peace agreement to end three weeks of fighting with US and Iraqi forces in this holy city.

Explosions and gunfire shook Najaf’s Old City in a fierce battle between US forces and Shiite militants, who remained in control of a revered shrine here as negotiations dragged on for its handover to religious authorities.

Militants loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said today they handed over the keys to – but not control of – a revered Muslim shrine to Shiite religious leaders.

American tanks rolled toward a holy Shiite shrine in Najaf where militants were hiding today as a national conference voted to send a delegation to try to negotiate an end to the fighting.