Ceasefire for Iraqi festival

Leaders of a militia loyal to an anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric said today that they would not launch attacks on US-led coalition forces in the city of Karbala until the end of a religious festival this weekend.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are in Karbala and other Shiite cities to mark al-Arbaeen, the end of the mourning period for a 7th-century martyred Shiite saint.