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.

Iraqi delegates delivered a peace proposal to aides of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf, but the militant cleric refused to meet with them as explosions, gunfire and a US air strike on the sprawling cemetery echoed across the holy city.

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.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has been wounded in the fighting in Najaf, his spokesman said today.