Journalist freed after Sadr intervention

Iraq's interim government said Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was negotiating to leave a shrine in Najaf yesterday as thousands of protesters across southern Iraq condemned a US offensive in the holy city.

Demonstrators gathered in seven cities in Iraq to vent their anger at the assault on Sadr's forces launched by US marines on Thursday, amid conflicting reports over whether the firebrand cleric had been wounded during the fighting.

Gunmen also kidnapped a British journalist in the southern city of Basra, threatening to execute him within 24 hours if US forces did not pull out of Najaf, but Sunday Telegraph reporter James Brandon was later released after Sadr intervened.

Witnesses said gunmen seized the British journalist from a hotel in mainly Shi'ite Basra early yesterday morning.

The kidnappers instructed a freelance cameraman working for Reuters to film their captive. The tape showed a hooded man standing by the bare-chested reporter, who wore a head bandage.

Mr Brandon was handed over within hours to Sadr's Basra office. "I'm grateful to the Mehdi Army and I'm in good health now," Mr Brandon, who had a black eye, told reporters shortly after his release. He said he was treated roughly at first.

A Sadr spokesman said the cleric would pull his forces out of Najaf if US forces also withdrew and religious authorities agreed to administer the city's sacred Shi'ite sites.

Sheikh Ali Smeisim also said Sadr was demanding the release of his captive guerillas and an amnesty for his fighters, who should be allowed to participate in Iraq's political process.

"Sayyed Moqtada will not be touched if he leaves the shrine peacefully," Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said.

The nine-day uprising in Najaf has killed hundreds and threatened to undermine the rule of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who is walking a tightrope trying to crush the radical Shi'ite rebellion across southern Iraq that has hit oil exports.

By evening, witnesses said US soldiers had withdrawn from positions near Sadr's house in Najaf, which they raided on Thursday during their offensive on fighters around the Imam Ali mosque and the city's cemetery, strongholds for Sadr's men.

Sadr spokesman Ahmad al-Shinabi said the cleric was wounded in the chest, arm and leg at 4.30 a.m. (0030 GMT) in the cemetery yesterday.

Interior Minister Naqib denied Sadr was wounded and said a truce had been in force since last night. He said the government was negotiating Sadr's departure from the revered Imam Ali shrine, where he has been holed up with his fighters.

US planes bombed several targets in the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja for the second day, killing four Iraqis including two children, witnesses and hospital officials said. The US military said it had no information on the attacks.

Residents said Najaf was quieter than on Thursday, but there had been sporadic clashes overnight in the city of 600,000.

"We have ceased offensive military operations at this time." said a US military spokesman yesterday. "There were some clashes this morning, but then the order came down to cease operations and we have," he said. In the southern town of Kufa, 10 kilometres from Najaf, Iraqi security forces killed several people in a raid on a Sadr stronghold, US Marine Captain Carrie Batson told CNN.

Despite the government denial that Sadr was wounded, the news could trigger outrage from the majority Shi'ite community, where there is growing anger at the US assault near Iraq's holiest Shi'ite sites even from those who scorn Sadr's views.