Al-Sadr orders fighters to lay down arms

Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today ordered his fighters to lay down their arms and leave Najaf and neighbouring Kufa.

The call came after Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani made a dramatic return to Najaf and swiftly won agreement from Al-Sadr and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia and US-Iraqi forces.