Car bombs rocked Iraq’s two holiest Shiite cities today, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120, while in Baghdad dozens of gunmen carried out a brazen ambush on car, killing three employees of the organisation running next month’s elections.

Oil exports from southern Iraq have been brought to a complete halt following a spate of pipeline attacks launched by insurgents trying to undermine the interim government.

THOUSANDS of pilgrims streamed into the Imam Ali Shrine yesterday as militants handed the keys to Shi'ite religious authorities after Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric brokered a peace deal to end three weeks of fighting.

Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today ordered his fighters to lay down their arms and leave Najaf and neighbouring Kufa.

IRAQ’S most revered Shi’ite leader yesterday persuaded a rebel cleric to accept a deal ending a three-week uprising in Najaf, after returning to the holy city amid bloody clashes that killed at least 74 people.

The government of Iraq has accepted the peace deal brokered by Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani to end the occupation of the holy Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf.

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to the violence-wracked city of Najaf today aiming to broker a peace deal to end more than three weeks of devastating fighting between US forces and Shiite militants.

Najaf Governor Adnan al-Zurufi has declared a 24-hour cease-fire from the time Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani arrived in Najaf to give the militants a chance to decide whether to accept the cleric's peace plan.

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric is on his way to Najaf today, armed with a new peace initiative and a call for Iraqis to march on the holy city, after he unexpectedly returned home from Britain.

IRAQ’S most powerful Shi’ite cleric arrived home from Britain yesterday and his aides called for a nationwide march to Najaf to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between US forces and Shi’ite militants in the holy city.

Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric arrived home from Britain today and his aides called for a nationwide march to Najaf to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between US forces and Shiite militants in this holy city.

Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric was expected to return home from Britain today in a bid to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between US forces and Shiite militants in the holy city of Najaf.

Najaf’s Shiite uprising appeared to be weakening today as Iraqi forces moved to within 200 yards of the revered Imam Ali Shrine.

REBEL forces inside the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf were warned yesterday they have “hours to surrender” or face attack from US and Iraqi forces.

US and Iraqi forces battled militants in Najaf today and Iraqi National Guardsmen advanced to within 200 yards of the holy city’s Imam Ali Shrine compound, where insurgents loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been holed up for weeks.

Masked Shiite militiamen armed with rocket launchers and automatic weapons poured through the streets of the southern Iraqi city of Basra today, setting up roadblocks to protest at US military action in Najaf.

Plumes of black smoke rose above the embattled city of Najaf today after American warplanes bombed insurgent positions overnight and supporters of a radical cleric charged that shrapnel from a US attack had hit parts of the Imam Ali Shrine. The military denied the claim.

US FORCES and Shi'ite militants fought fierce battles yesterday near a revered shrine in Najaf, as the US military stepped up pressure on the insurgents to quickly hand over the holy site to Shi'ite religious authorities.

US forces and Shiite militants fought fierce battles today marked by explosions and gunfire near a revered shrine in Najaf, as the US military stepped up pressure on the insurgents to quickly hand over the holy site to Shiite religious authorities.

REBEL Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s gunmen removed their weapons from the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf yesterday in a step aimed at ending the two-week-old uprising.

Militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr removed their weapons from the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf today as a two-week-old uprising centred on the holy site appeared to be drawing to an end.

Sporadic gunfire echoed through Najaf today after a night of heavy US bombing that saw radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr order his fighters to hand control of a revered Najaf shrine to top Shiite religious authorities.

Iraqi forces could begin an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr within hours, despite the firebrand cleric’s acceptance of a cease-fire proposal, an Iraqi Cabinet minister said today.

Sporadic gunfire and explosions boomed through Najaf today despite a peace deal in which radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to disarm his militiamen and pull them out of a revered Shiite shrine where they have taken refuge.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accepted a peace plan yesterday to end the fighting in Najaf that would disarm his militia and remove them from their hideout in a holy shrine.

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.

Iraqi govrnment forces could raid Najaf’s holy Imam Ali Shrine today in a final push to root out the Shiite militants hiding out there, said Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan.

Delegates began voting today for members of the new Iraqi National Council but said they would not send another delegation to the holy city of Najaf after a failed mission to end nearly two weeks of fighting there between US forces and Shiite militants.

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.

An Iraqi delegation sent by a national conference in Baghdad flew to besieged Najaf by helicopter today to present radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr with a peace proposal aimed at ending a violent insurgency wracking the holy city.

A delegation of Iraqis meant to help negotiate an end to the uprising in Najaf was forced today to delay its mission to the holy city when it could not get a military escort for the dangerous journey.

The deadly showdown between US troops and Iraqi militants in Najaf dominated Iraq’s national conference, with tribal and religious leaders deciding to send 60 delegates to the holy city to persuade a radical Shiite cleric to call off his fighters.

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.

IRAQI officials and aides to a radical Shi'ite cleric were yesterday trying to negotiate an end to nine days of fighting in the holy city of Najaf after US forces suspended an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia.

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.

Clashes between British forces and Shiite militia in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah left 14 people dead and 42 injured today, according to the Health Ministry.

British troops suffered two minor casualties during overnight fighting in the southern Iraqi Shiite city of Amarah that left ten militants dead and 50 Iraqis injured.

US tanks pushed into Najaf's vast cemetery-turned-battlefield yesterday as helicopter gunships fired on Shiite militiamen hiding there.

A roadside bomb went off early today as a US military vehicle drove by a street in central Baghdad, slightly injuring two soldiers.

Protected by about 100 guards, Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has visited the war-shattered city of Najaf, calling on Shiite militants to lay down their weapons after days of fierce clashes with US forces.

Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi made an unannounced visit to the war-torn city of Najaf today, calling on militants to lay down their weapons after days of fierce clashes with US forces.

British forces clashed with a rebel Shiite cleric’s militia which had threatened to unleash 1,000 fighters in Basra today unless four arrested men were freed.

SHI'ITE gunmen seized a police station in Najaf yesterday in the first outbreak of fighting since an agreement to end weeks of bloody clashes between US troops and militia forces.