REBEL Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr backed down last night in the face of a looming Iraqi army assault on a holy shrine in Najaf where his gunmen have been holding out.

Rebel Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared to back down today and accepted a peace plan just as government forces were preparing to storm a holy shrine in Najaf where his gunmen are holed up.