Najaf deal ends three weeks of bloodshed

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.

Dozens of militants piled Kalashnikov rifles in front of the offices of their leader, radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Thousands of al-Sadr's militiamen were still believed to be armed in the city, though most were staying off the streets. In one narrow alley, some militiamen could be seen pushing carts full of machine-guns and rocket launchers.

Iraqi forces took control of the Old City, which al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia had used as their stronghold during the fierce fighting with US-Iraqi forces.

Dozens of Iraqi police and national guardsmen deployed around the compound of the walled, golden-domed shrine in the Old City yesterday afternoon - but did not enter. Some kissed the compound's gates, others burst into tears. Some residents of the devastated Old City neighbourhood waved to them and yelled out "Welcome. Welcome."

US forces appeared to have maintained their positions in the Old City.

After a day of prayers and celebrations at the shrine - one of Shia Islam's holiest sites - civilians and fighters left, and al-Sadr's followers handed over the keys to the site to religious authorities loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the esteemed cleric who secured the peace deal.

"Now the holy shrine compound has been evacuated and its keys have been handed over to the religious authority," al-Sistani aide Hamed al-Khafaf told Al-Arabiya television.

The handover the keys was a symbolic, yet crucial, step in ending the bloody crisis that has plagued this city since August 5, killing hundreds of Iraqis and nine US troops, ravaging parts of the Old City and threatening the control of Iraq's interim government.

Al-Sadr ordered his fighters to lay down their arms and leave Najaf and neighbouring Kufa after agreeing to the peace deal in a face-to-face meeting the night before with al-Sistani.

The agreement leaves the Mahdi Army intact and al-Sadr free. Meantime, Iraq State Minister Qassim Dawoud said US and coalition forces would pull out of Najaf as soon as interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi ordered it.