Iranians try to end Najaf stand-off

An Iranian envoy headed to the Iraqi holy city of Najaf today on a mission to end the American stand-off with a radical Shiite cleric.

It was an intervention by a nation that Washington has tried to keep out of Iraqi affairs and a sign of the eagerness to avert a US attack on the city.

Meanwhile, Iraqi militants executed an Italian hostage, the first captive known to have been killed among more than 40 foreigners kidnapped during Iraq’s spasm of violence this month.

The wave of kidnappings has sent a chill through the foreign community in Iraq, including aid workers, journalists, and private contractors.

The identity of the kidnappers – apparently a variety of small groups – has been unclear.

A senior American official said the military and coalition did not know who they were but suspected former intelligence officials from Saddam’s regime or foreign militants were behind the abductions.

The Iranian delegation, headed by senior Foreign Ministry official Hussein Sedeqi, held talks in Baghdad last night with Massoud Barzani, current president of the Iraqi Governing Council.

The talks were “positive” and the Iranians expressed their willingness to mediate the US dispute with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said council member Mahmoud Othman.

The Iranians headed to Najaf today, an al-Sadr aide said.

Some 2,500 U.S. troops are massed outside the southern town of Najaf, vowing to capture al-Sadr, located at his office next to the city’s Imam Ali Shrine - the holiest Shiite site in the world.

A US assault into the city could enflame Iraq’s Shiite majority and push them closer to al-Sadr, whose militia launched a bloody uprising last week against coalition forces across the south.

It would also fan anti-American sentiment in Shiite communities around the world, including mostly-Shiite Iran.

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, persuaded al-Sadr to drop defiant demands he had put forward to Iraqi politicians currently mediating the stand-off.

Among other things, al-Sadr demanded US troops withdraw from all Iraqi cities, a condition the American military was unlikely to accept.

Al-Sadr militiamen in Najaf appeared to be preparing for a fight, moving into buildings and onto rooftops on the city’s outskirts, said Colonel Dana Pittard, head of the 2,500 US troops amassed outside the city.

“Najaf is a holy place,” said Kaysal Hazali, spokesman for al-Sadr. “If they attack it, God knows the results: It is not going to be good for the occupation.”

In the besieged city of Fallujah, US warplanes struck at guerrillas early today, the latest in nightly fighting that has strained a four day truce called to allow Iraqi negotiators to try to end the violence.

Marines and insurgents have been digging into their positions in houses inside the city, preparing for the possible complete collapse of the ceasefire.

Insurgents were launching increasingly sophisticated attacks on marine positions at night, US commanders said.

The top marine commander warned that the halt in offensive operations may not last much longer in the face of persistent guerrilla attacks, despite a truce insurgents called on Sunday.

“I don’t forecast that this stalemate will go on for long,” said Major General James Mattis. “It’s hard to have a cease-fire when they manoeuvre against us, they fire at us.”

Two soldiers were killed yesterday in attacks in Mosul and Samarra, in the north and centre of the country bringing to at least 89 the number of US soldier skilled in April.

It has been the deadliest month for Americans ever in Iraq. More than 900 Iraqis have also been killed, the most since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

In an effort to keep the political process moving despite the violence, a top UN envoy proposed that an Iraq caretaker government take power when US officials hand over sovereignty on June 31.

Lakhdar Ibrahimi’s plan would dump the current Governing Council and set up an executive made of highly respected Iraqis, including a prime minister, president and two vice presidents.

The plan, for the first time, would also give the United Nations a role in picking the new government, in contrast to the entirely US picked Governing Council, which many Iraqis dismiss as lackeys of Washington.

The executive would be chosen by the United Nations, the Governing Council, the coalition and a select group of Iraqi judges, said the UN.