Al-Sadr orders shrine handover

Sporadic gunfire echoed through Najaf today after a night of heavy US bombing that saw radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr order his fighters to hand control of a revered Najaf shrine to top Shiite religious authorities.

US tanks were on the streets and residents reported seeing some of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia pulling out of the Old City, but no major skirmishes were reported.