Renewed fighting between Iraqi Shi'ite militiamen and US soldiers in the holy city of Kerbala has left at least 25 guerrilla fighters dead.
Locals said the fighting had erupted late last night and was still going on at dawn, with men loyal to the fiery young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr holed up in a mosque and surrounded by US forces and tanks.
But Sadr himself was negotiating an end to his Mehdi Army's month-old uprising, under pressure from the Shi'ite Muslim establishment.
"Agreement has been reached on all points of contention," Qais al-Khazali, Sadr's chief aide in Najaf, said.
READ MORE
A senior US official in Baghdad up to 25 militiamen had been killed and seven American soldiers wounded in the Kerbala fighting.