GRAND Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s leading Shia cleric, unexpectedly flew home from medical treatment in London yesterday and prepared to lead tens of thousands of supporters in a march on Najaf.
His aides said that he would demand a peaceful resolution to the three-week insurrection by fighters loyal to the rebel Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, who have taken over the Amam Ali shrine.
There are fears of a bloodbath if that demand is rejected and Ayatollah al-Sistani’s followers move to eject Hojatoleslam al-Sadr’s Mahdi army.
Hojatoleslam al-Sadr called on his followers to march to Najaf, setting the stage for a violent confrontation as rival Shias converge on the city.
Hojatoleslam al-Sadr’s fighters were reeling from a sustained onslaught from US forces. Marines fought towards the shrine as Madhi Army fighters were pinned down by artillery and aerial bombardment. Last night US aircraft attacked Mahdi army positions in the old city as tanks advanced on the mosque.
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As many as 70 Western and Arab journalists, including Stephen Farrell of The Times, were rounded up and taken away at gunpoint by Iraqi police last night.
The journalists were driven away in lorries by masked policemen who stormed into their hotel, firing guns in the air and kicking down doors.
They were taken to the office of Ghaleb al-Jazairi, the police chief, who accused them of favouring the rebels “You never broadcast the truth,” he said. They were later released.