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.

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.

Gunmen today ambushed a convoy carrying a member of the Iraqi Governing Council as she was returning to Baghdad from mediation efforts in Najaf, an aide said.