Sadr in Najaf. But the cleric said only 36 militiamen had been killed. The United Nations welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's offer of a limited amnesty for insurgents and wider participation in the political process as steps in the right direction. The new U.N. chief envoy for Iraq, veteran Pakistani diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, will go to Baghdad this month along with a small team to re-establish a permanent U.N. presence. The world body at one point had some 600 international staff working in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion. All were pulled out last year after a bomb attack on U.N. offices in Baghdad. Hundreds of U.N. staff are working on Iraqi projects from neighboring Jordan. --SP 2323 Local Time 2023 GMT
