Najaf Governor Adnan al-Zurufi has declared a 24-hour cease-fire from the time Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani arrived in Najaf to give the militants a chance to decide whether to accept the cleric's peace plan.

Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric was expected to return home from Britain today in a bid to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between US forces and Shiite militants in the holy city of Najaf.