Sadr Returns After 3 Years

A Shi'ite cleric and longtime U.S. opponent has returned to Iraq after three years of voluntary exile in Iran, the New York Times reports.

Muqtada al-Sadr arrived in his stronghold of Najaf on Wednesday. He left Iraq in 2007 in part to avoid an arrest warrant for the 2003 killing of a rival cleric.

The Sadr movement made gains in 2009 local elections and won 40 seats in last year's national vote.