Some 74 people were killed and at least 315 others wounded in violence Thursday in Iraq's Kufa and its nearby southern holy city of Najaf, the Health Ministry said.

The Shiite sister-cities have earlier witnessed a mortar attack on the main mosque in the city and a shooting attack from an Iraqi National Guard base on Shiite crowd who were marching to Najaf.

The death toll from several attacks in Najaf and Kufa on Thursday has risen to 74 with 315 wounded, the Health Ministry said.

"The Najaf hospital received 39 bodies and 255 wounded and the one in Kufa 25 bodies and 60 wounded," a ministry official said, adding the bodies of another 10 people were transported to nearby cities of Diwaniya and Hilla.

"We cannot distinguish between those who died in the bombing of the Kufa mosque and those who were killed in the demonstration,"the official said.

The bloody attacks coincided with the return to Najaf of Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who had returned Iraq on Wednesday from London, where he received medical treatment for three weeks.

After his arrival in Najaf Thursday afternoon, Sistani's spokesman Ahmed al-Khaffaf noted that talks has started between aides of Iraq's radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Shiite spiritual leader in order to solve the crisis in the holy city peacefully.

"We have begun contacts with Sadr and we are waiting now, hoping that we will succeed in saving Najaf from destruction," said the spokesman.

Meanwhile, the US military also announced that US forces will suspend its military actions for 24 hours against Shiite militia in Najaf shrine.

"Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani is working toward a peaceful solution to hostilities in Najaf," said a US military spokesman, adding the US-led multinational forces will support Sistani's effort to return the city to its citizens.

Najaf has witnessed fierce battles between US-backed Iraqi government forces and Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric moqtada al-Sadr for three weeks, leaving several hundreds of Iraqis killed.

Source: Xinhua