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AFPNAJAF, Iraq — Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr returned Wednesday to Iraq for a hero's welcome in his stronghold of Najaf after nearly four years outside the country, an AFP correspondent said.
"Moqtada al-Sadr has returned to his home in Najaf. He arrived about 3:00 pm (1200 GMT) with several leaders from the Sadr movement," a source in his movement said, adding Sadr was not visiting but had returned to stay.
Hundreds of supporters took to the streets of Al-Hanana neighbourhood in Najaf, the central Iraq shrine city where Sadr's home is located, to celebrate the cleric's return watched on by security forces.
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His bloc now holds seven cabinet posts -- Housing and Construction, Labour and Social Affairs, Water Resources, a minister of state for Tourism and Archaeology, and two ministers without portfolio -- in the national unity cabinet that was approved by parliament on December 21.
Deputy speaker of parliament Qussai Abdel Wahab al-Suhail is a member of Sadr's bloc.
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