"As you see now I am going to the office of Ayatollah Sistani. Arrangements are being made so that you could see peace before you," the aide, Sheikh Ahmad al-Shaibani, told reporters near the holy mausoleum in the city.

Meanwhile, final details of the transfer of the mausoleum to followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are worked out, according to Shaibani.

The keys were handed over to representatives of Iraq's top Shiite cleric Sistani, who is in a London hospital for treatment of a heart problem, Shaibani said.

"We handed over the keys to Sistani's office, but the actual handing over of the shrine has not happened yet," he said.

   Shaibani added that the Mehdi Army would guard the shrine even after handing it over to Sistani.

"The Mehdi army will keep defending the shrine and Najaf," Shaibani told reporters. "The Americans will not be allowed into Najaf."

Najaf, some 160 km south of Baghdad, is a holy site for Muslims and one of the holiest Shiite pilgrimage sites in the world.

   Sadr's Mehdi fighters took over the holy mausoleum and turned it into military headquarters.

Source: Xinhua