Shiite leader bids to end Najaf fighting

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric made a dramatic return to the violence-wracked city of Najaf today aiming to broker a peace deal to end more than three weeks of devastating fighting between US forces and Shiite militants.

But just hours before the arrival of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani’s massive convoy, a mortar barrage slammed into a mosque compound in nearby Kufa packed with Iraqis preparing to march, killing 27 people and wounding 63 others. It was not known who launched the attack.