Very good news, The shrine is no longer a militant base.
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Iraq says Al-Sadr’s forces have left shrine
NAJAF, Iraq - Militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have left the holy shrine in Najaf and Iraqi police are in control there, Iraq’s Interior Ministry reported Friday.
The Iraqi police are now in control of the shrine, along with the religious authorities," a senior ministry spokesman told Reuters.
A spokesman for al-Sadr had earlier said the militia was prepared to hand control of the revered Imam Ali Shrine to top Shiite religious authorities.
The moves came after a day and night of fighting in Najaf that killed 77 people and wounded 70 others, as al-Sadr militiamen mortared a police station and U.S. warplanes carried out bombing raids.
By daylight Friday, the holy city south of Baghdad appeared the quietest it has in weeks and there were signs that the two-week standoff may be easing.
The Arab satellite channel al-Arabiya reported that Iraqi forces had entered the Imam Ali shrine without fighting, while an aide to the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said the cleric had agreed to take over control of the shrine from al-Sadr’s forces.
However, al-Sistani’s office and the followers of al-Sadr still needed to discuss the details of such a transfer, Sheik Hamed Khafaf, an al-Sistani aide, said from London.
“We told al-Sadr’s office that if they want to hand over the keys (to the shrine) to the Shiite religious leadership, then the religious leadership will welcome this in order to defuse the crisis,” he told the Associated Press.
“But, the mechanism of the handover should be studied, and this has not happened yet,” he said. When asked if al-Sistani had basically agreed to take over the shrine, he said, “Yes.”