Iraq's Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani tells US to stay out of Najaf-sources [View All]

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/OWE552013.htm

BAGHDAD, April 15 (Reuters) - Iraq's leading Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has warned the United States against entering the holy city of Najaf in pursuit of Moqtada al-Sadr, Shi'ite religious and political sources said on Thursday.

"The Ayatollah has told the Shi'ite Iraqi Governing Council members to inform the Americans that Najaf is a red line," a senior source told Reuters.

Sistani, a political rival of rebel cleric Sadr, has issued statements in the past urging respect for law and order and the sanctity of Iraq's holy places, but he has refrained from commenting directly on the Shi'ite uprising by Sadr's militiamen.

Another senior source in Najaf said Sistani did not want to compromise his religious authority by appearing to engage in temporal details, such how to deal with Sadr, but that he had privately made clear his strong opposition to U.S. troops in Najaf.

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