In the coming week, 2 million Shiites are expected to attend services in Najaf and Karbala.
U.S. forces have been engaging Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army in Najaf, Karbala and Kufa.
Al-Sadr is the Shiite cleric whose supporters battled U.S. troops for months last year in Najaf and Baghdad.
Many members of the Mahdi Army in Najaf hail from farther afield and are resented by local residents.
Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shia leader, strongly opposes federalism: in Najaf this week, his men fought fellow Shias.
ECONOMIST: The peril of defeat and the danger of victory | The
On Thursday, Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a prominent Shia leader, was stabbed to death in a mosque in Najaf.
Al-Nori is one of several al-Sadr supporters accused in last year's killing of Ayatollah Abdul Majid al-Khoei in Najaf.
Anne, what was the response in Najaf to the bombing of the shrine?
No Muslim, particularly a Shia, can remain calm in the face of the recent events in Najaf and Karbala...
BBC: NEWS | Middle East | Iran leader condemns US 'stupidity'
And, you know, every street and every house, especially in Najaf, has pictures of Shiite martyrs from the 9th century.
Edward Cardon said an obvious missed opportunity is an airport in Najaf that could be providing jobs and economic growth.
While Sadr pays lip service to the mainstream Shiite religious leadership based in Najaf, his base of power is different.
"We're hearing from sources within his own movement and sources in Najaf that he's beefing up his religious credentials, " Dehghanpisheh says.
We'll speak with our own Anne Garrels, who was in Najaf yesterday.
But the fight in Najaf shows that a well-armed and highly motivated segment of the country's most numerous group has other ideas.
An Iraqi suicide bomber exploded a taxi at a U.S. checkpoint in Najaf Saturday, killing four U.S. soldiers serving with the 3rd Infantry Division.
Not long ago, this outfit took part in a mass casualty evacuation from a battle in Najaf between Iraqi forces and a fanatical sect.
And one of the most interesting things that's happening there in Najaf is the increasing drawing in of the clergy into the political process.
Al-Sadr's statement came after what an aide described as direct talks between al-Sadr's representatives and the Iraqi government in Najaf that started Saturday night.
CNN: Al-Sadr calls off fighting, orders compliance with Iraqi security
The attack in Najaf and an earlier incident Saturday near Basra appeared to validate Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan's two-month-old threat of suicide bombings.
His followers are widely blamed for the murder of a coalition-friendly cleric, Abdel Majid al-Khouei, in Najaf in April, soon after his return from exile.
The attack in Najaf and an earlier incident Saturday near Basra appeared to validate Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan's 2-month-old threat of suicide bombings.
Both were from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Seattle and served in Mosul, Iraq, then saw fighting in Najaf and Karbala as well as action in Baghdad.
And car bombs planted in a busy trading street in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, killed four people and wounded 28, Interior Ministry sources said.
He--Mr. Burke says that he saw documentation showing that, on one occasion, there were 1, 300 people hired into the police force in Najaf in a single day.
By the age of 16, he was sent to study theology at the Shia seminary in Najaf, Iraq one of the spiritual centers of Shiite Islam.
American officers admitted that they did step up their military presence in Najaf on July 19th, but only in order to protect a visiting defence official, Paul Wolfowitz.
Angry Iraqis gathered outside the mosque in Najaf to protest.
应用推荐