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Cleric 'survives assassination bid' Rory McCarthy in Baghdad and Michael Howard in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan
Friday February 6, 2004
The Guardian
Iraq's most respected Shia cleric was reported to have survived an assassination attempt near his office yesterday.
But there was confusion about the incident. Some aides said that yesterday morning four men, armed with rifles, had fired shots apparently aimed at the cleric who escaped unhurt. Others said there had been no shooting.
Ayatollah Sistani, 73, has been at the forefront of demands for direct elections in Iraq and commands broad support among Iraq's Shia majority.
"Gunmen opened fire on Ayatollah Sistani as he greeted people in Najaf, but he was not hurt," an official from the cleric's office told Reuters. The cleric was attacked when he stopped to greet people while travelling home by car from his office, the agency said.
Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, a member of Iraq's governing council known to be close to Ayatollah Sistani, met the cleric for two hours yesterday afternoon.
Last night he told CNN he believed there had been an assassination attempt, but later he refused to give details.
(more)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1142291,00.html
Ali Al-Sistani Escapes Assassination Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff
BAGHDAD, 6 February 2004 — Violence continued unabated in Iraq yesterday on the eve of a visit by a UN team to negotiate an election date. Top Iraqi Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, escaped an assassination attempt and a US soldier was killed in an attack on a convoy.
“Sayyed Sistani escaped an assassination attempt,” an aide said in the southern city of Najaf without elaborating. “I just met Sayyed Sistani, he is safe and sound,” said a Shiite member of the Iraq’s US-appointed interim leadership, Muaffak Al-Rubei, after a meeting with the cleric.
“At 10 o’clock this morning, gunmen opened fire on Ayatollah Sistani as he greeted people in Najaf, but he was not hurt,” he said.
“He is surrounded by his relatives who are taking care of him. What I call for now is for there to be no backlash after this assassination attempt. Instead there should be a national response encompassing all of Iraq. These violent acts against any of our leaders should be condemned,” Rubei added.
(more)
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=39101&d=6&m=2&y=2004