Hours after being freed by kidnappers who threatened to kill him, US journalist Micah Garen said he hoped to stay in Iraq to continue working on a documentary project he had started about the looting of archaeological sites.

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.

A top aide to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said today that kidnappers who abducted and threatened to kill a US journalist had promised to set him free.

Top aides to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on kidnappers to immediately free a western journalist they had threatened to kill unless US forces withdrew from the holy city of Najaf.

Iraqi militants are threatening to kill a Turkish hostage if his company does not withdraw from Iraq within three days, private NTV television reported in Istanbul.