IRAQ: NAJAF RESISTANCE

Reuters: Top Shi'ite cleric calls for march on Najaf


NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric has returned to the country and urged Iraqis to march on the "burning city" of Najaf, where fighting is creeping ever closer its sacred shrine.

Aides said Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani arrived in Iraq from Kuwait on Wednesday and was heading to Najaf, his adopted home, after getting heart treatment in London for three weeks.

The news of Sistani's return came as U.S. and Iraqi forces tightened their grip around Mehdi Army militants loyal to a radical cleric who have holed up in Najaf's Imam Ali mosque, advancing to within 300 metres (yards) of the rebel-held shrine.

The call to march on Najaf by the Shi'ite moderate, who has said little about a crisis that has killed hundreds and undermined the authority of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, could escalate passions among the majority Shi'ite community.

Haarez: Iraq's top Shiite cleric returns as fighting rages in Najaf

Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric arrived home from Britain on Wednesday and his aides called for a nationwide march to Najaf to end nearly three weeks of fierce fighting between U.S. forces and Shiite militants in this holy city.

The announcement came as heavy fighting persisted in Najaf's Old City, the center of much of the past three weeks of fighting. U.S. warplanes fired on the neighborhood, helicopters flew overhead and heavy gunfire was heard in the streets, witnesses said.