Sadr accepts Sistani deal to quit mosque

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.

“We are three-quarters toward the end of this crisis,” said Hamed al-Khafaf, senior aide to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani who entered Najaf in a huge convoy of vehicles earlier yesterday for talks with radical rival Moqtada al-Sadr.

He said Sadr, whose fighters have been holed up in the Imam Ali mosque and battling US and Iraqi forces in the alleys outside, agreed to all points of Ayatollah Sistani’s peace plan to end fighting that has killed hundreds, driven oil prices to record highs and undermined Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s authority.