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74 killed in Kufa violence

Sistani-Sadr talks begin, crowd breaks Najaf shrine siege

AFP, Najaf
Talks have started between representatives of rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr and Iraq's Shia spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, a spokesman for Sistani said yesterday.
"We have started contacts with Moqtada Sadr and in the coming hours we are waiting, hoping that we will succeed in saving the city from destruction," said Ahmed al-Khaffaf.
The format of the talks was not clear or whether Sistani and Sadr themselves had or were expected to meet face-to-face.
"Once again I'm calling upon people wanting to enter Najaf to stay where you are if possible," Khaffaf added.
"Demonstrators outside Najaf will only be admitted to the city after they have been searched," he finished.
Iraq's Shia spiritual leader Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani arrived in Najaf yesterday as a huge crowd forced their way into the city's holy shrine calling for peace in the city.
A 24-hour ceasefire began immediately upon his arrival on the orders of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi -although the local governor said hostilities would resume if a solution to the standoff against Shia militia was not found by then.
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But his arrival was marked by a deadly day in Najaf's twin city of Kufa, where 74 people were killed and 376 wounded in a mortar attack on the main mosque and shooting at a march which was blamed on Iraq's national guard, the health ministry said.
"The Najaf hospital received 39 bodies and 255 wounded and the one in Kufa 25 bodies and 60 wounded," a ministry official said.
The bodies of another eight people killed in the demonstration and 42 wounded people were transported to Diwaniya, about 50km east of Najaf.
Two other bodies and 19 wounded were taken to a hospital in Hilla, about 60km north of Najaf.
"We cannot distinguish between those who died in the bombing of the Kufa mosque and those who were killed in the demonstration," he said.
After a seven-hour journey, Sistani's motorcade stopped in Al-Saad one of the few relatively smart districts of Najaf, where the elderly Iranian-born cleric went to rest in a house.
Iraqi police and national guardsmen swarmed outside and blocked off the street as a stream of visitors flocked to the area.
"He's in good health, but he's tired from the trip and he cannot talk to anyone right now," said Najaf police chief Ghaleb al-Jazairi.
With military operations called off, an enormous crowd forced its way into Najaf's revered Imam Ali mausoleum, which has been trapped off from the outside world by heavy US bombardment and tank fire since Wednesday.
Rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr has used the shrine has the headquarters of his Mehdi Army since his spring uprising against foreign troops.
"We answered the call of Sistani who ordered us to follow to Najaf to break the siege. Police sort of tried to arrest us, but there was nothing they could do. It's the end of the siege," said one demonstrator Kazem Hamid.
"We have started contacts with Moqtada Sadr and in the coming hours we are waiting, hoping that we will succeed in saving the city from destruction," said Sistani spokesman Ahmed al-Khaffaf, calling on people not to enter Najaf.
"Demonstrators outside Najaf will
only be admitted to the city after they have been searched," he said.
Inside the shrine, Medhi Kadhem Ali, commander of the militia's mortar division confirmed that US troops were still heavily deployed.
"There is a truce, but the Americans have only withdrawn from the market in the Old City. They are still deployed along the edge of the cemetery and in the sea of Najaf," he said.
He said US troops opened fire on fighters who had tried to retrieve dead and wounded stranded for days.
"I hope that this is the end of the battle, but we have to wait for the result of the talks," he said.
Sistani's giant, ragged convoy, greeted by thousands and escorted by police and national guard patrol vehicles, crawled along at 20km an hour on the long 400-km journey north from Basra.
At towns along the way, men, women, children and the elderly, lined the streets to greet Sistani, regarded as moderating influence in Shia Islam.
Behind the vehicles containing the ayatollah and his aides, more than 1,000 cars, pick-up trucks, taxis and buses were packed with Shia faithful of all ages, waving banners and pictures of Sistani.
Many were supporters of Sadr during his three-week battle against US and Iraqi government forces has endangered the Imam Ali mausoleum in Najaf, one of the most sacred sites in Shia Islam.
"We are here for the peace rally to stop the bloodshed in Najaf. It is the city of peace and we're answering Sistani's call," said Jaffar Salih, 38, hanging out of a taxi.
Sistani returned to Iraq on Wednesday via Kuwait from London, where he had gone three weeks before for treatment for a heart problem just as the Najaf fighting erupted.
His hurried return came after US forces smashed militia defences to trap hundreds of Sadr's supporters in the Imam Ali shrine.
Under US airstrikes, tanks rolled up to within 20 metres (yards) of the mosque and at dawn Thursday four bullet holes were visible in the golden dome.