NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — Iraq's top Shiite cleric renewed his call for an end to sectarian violence in the country and for Sunni and Shiite Muslims to unite, according to a Sunni cleric who met him Tuesday in this holy city south of Baghdad.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's plea for peace and unity came as a group of Sunni and Shiite clerics met in Najaf in the latest attempt by clerics from both sects to stem the violence. The meeting was sponsored by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Iraq's most influential Shiite party, which is closely linked to al-Sistani.

Later, Khaled al-Mulla, one of the 10-member Sunni delegation, said the Iranian-born religious leader called for solidarity between the two sects and an end to the bloodshed, which has intensified after a major Shiite shrine north of Baghdad was bombed in February 2006 by Sunni militants.

"I am a servant of all Iraqis," al-Mulla quoted al-Sistani as saying.

The wave of sectarian killings that followed the Samarra bombing continues until today, but has significantly abated since a major Iraqi-U.S. security plan was launched nine months ago.

A unilateral ceasefire declared in late August by the Shiite Mahdi Army militia led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also contributed to the reduction in violence. The militia is blamed for much of the sectarian bloodshed, along with Sunni militants from al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups.

"This conference is a message that unity has prevailed over division and this has come through big sacrifices," Shiite cleric Sadralddin al-Qubanji told Tuesday's gathering. "I tell the Iraqi people that solidarity is the only way to achieve victory."

However, the meeting in Najaf and al-Sistani's call for unity are unlikely to affect the persistent tension between Iraq's majority Shiites and the once dominant Sunni Arab minority.

There have in the past been many attempts by religious figures from both sides, some of which involved top clerics, to end the violence but they all failed to make a difference, in large part because the violence is closely linked to a power struggle by politicians from the rival sects in a climate characterized by deepening distrust.

The meeting coincided with a demonstration of thousands of al-Sadr's followers in the Iraqi capital — the second day his supporters have turned out in the face of an escalating crackdown against the Mahdi Army militia by the U.S. military and its Iraqi allies.

"These masses have demonstrated to renew their allegiance to Muqtada al-Sadr and to prove to the whole world that the Sadrists are still strong despite the plots which have been hatched against them," said Mazin al-Saadi, a senior aide to al-Sadr.

Tuesday's demonstration was in the mainly Shiite Shula neighborhood in northern Baghdad. On Monday, al-Sadr supporters staged a similar demonstration in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City.

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