Sadr returns to Iraq as hero

IRAQ: Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr returned to Iraq on Wednesday to a hero's welcome in his stronghold of Najaf after nearly four years outside the country, an AFP correspondent said.

Hundreds of supporters took to the streets of Al-Hanana neighbourhood in Najaf, the central Iraqi shrine city where Sadr's home is located.

He cleric, who is said to be in his 30s, gained wide popularity among Shiites in Iraq in the months after the US-led invasion of 2003 and in 2004 his Mahdi Army militia battled US troops in two bloody conflicts.

He was identified by the Pentagon in 2006 as the biggest threat to stability in Iraq.

His militia became the most active and feared armed Shiite group. Najaf, Thursday, AFP