Sistani aide asks US forces, militia to quit Najaf [View All]

DUBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - An aide to top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called on Friday on U.S. forces and militiamen of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to cease fighting and leave the holy Iraqi city of Najaf.

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Mohri, Kuwait-based aide to Sistani, said the fighting was spreading fast and he feared for holy sites and for Sistani's life.

"The fighting is getting closer to the house of the Grand Ayatollah. We fear that his life will be in danger," he told Reuters by telephone.

"We ask the coalition forces and (Sadr's) Mehdi militia to quit the holy city Najaf," he said. He urged U.S. forces not to violate the sanctities of Najaf or damage its shrines and cemetery where religious clerics were buried.

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