Al-Sadr aides in bid to negotiate Najaf truce

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.

Aides said al-Sadr had been injured by shrapnel.

The US army said it had suspended offensive operations against al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, who are holed up the city's vast cemetery and the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites to Shi'ite Muslims.