Kidnappers freed two Japanese hostages in Baghdad Saturday, but the standoff in the southern city of Najaf showed no sign of easing and rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s spokesman declared negotiations were stalled. Guns fell silent in Falluja, west of Baghdad, where air strikes and clashes have punctuated a shaky truce, but a U.S. spokesman said time was running out for talks aimed at ending fighting there between rebels and U.S. Marines. In Najaf, the Shi’ite holy city where U.S. troops are massing and Sadr and hundreds of militiamen are holed up, Sadr’s spokesman said: “If the Americans attack Najaf this will be zero hour and mass revolution…a Shi’ite-American confrontation.” Full Story
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