Fierce fighting was reported around Najaf’s holy shrine today after a rebel cleric’s aide rejected a government ultimatum for Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia to disarm or risk a massive offensive.

US soldiers escorting a convoy of prisoners released from the Abu Ghraib jail came under fire today after they stopped in the middle of a road outside the Iraqi capital.

THE US agreed to suspend offensive operations in Najaf yesterday after Iraqi leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a stand-off threatening some of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines.

Gunmen today ambushed a convoy carrying a member of the Iraqi Governing Council as she was returning to Baghdad from mediation efforts in Najaf, an aide said.

SADDAM HUSSEIN’S 66th birthday arrived yesterday with none of the elaborate fanfare of past years but with rumours the deposed dictator was still alive and planning something dastardly to mark the occasion.

Saddam Hussein’s 66th birthday arrived today with none of the elaborate fanfare of past years but with rumours the deposed dictator was still alive - and was planning something dastardly to mark the occasion.