Shiite Muslims, many kneeling in prayer, were attacked in their mosques and on the streets on the eve of their holiest day, with five bombings killing 36 people in the deadliest day in Iraq since the January 30 national elections.

Truce talks aimed at ending more than a week of violence between Shiite militants and US and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf broke down today, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie said.

Iraqi officials and aides to a radical Shiite cleric were trying to negotiate an end to nine days of fighting in the holy city of Najaf today after US forces suspended an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia.

US MARINES backed by tanks and aircraft seized the heart of the holy Iraqi city of Najaf yesterday in a major assault on Shi'ite rebels, but they kept out of a site sacred to millions of Shi'ites around the world.