Region | Iraq

Iraqi politician escapes assassination bid

Ex-Iraqi deputy prime minister and former Pentagon favourite, Ahmad Chalabi, escaped a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy in Baghdad, an official in his office said on Saturday.

  • AP
  • Published: 14:05 September 6, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • An Iraqi soldier stands guard near the wreckage of destroyed vehicles on a road after a bomb attack in the Mansour district in western Baghdad on Friday. A suicide car bomber targeting the convoy of influential Shiite politician Ahmad Chalabi killed six people and wounded 17 others, police said.
  • Image Credit: Reuters

Baghdad: Ex-Iraqi deputy prime minister and former Pentagon favourite, Ahmad Chalabi, escaped a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy in Baghdad, an official in his office said on Saturday.

Chalabi was not wounded, but the explosion on Friday night in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansour killed six of his bodyguards, said the official, Ayad Khadim Sabti.

Police said more than a dozen other people were wounded in the blast.

Chalabi, a secular Shiite who was once viewed by Washington as a possible successor to Saddam Hussain, was on his way to his headquarters in the area when the bomb exploded.

After spending most of his life abroad, Chalabi returned to Iraq in 2003 and served in the 25-member Governing Council appointed by the American occupation authorities to run the country's day-to-day affairs.

He now is chairman of a commission responsible for keeping Saddam loyalists out of government posts, his office said, and is believed to have escaped several assassination attempts since 2003.

Dead and injured

Meanwhile, at least six people were killed and about 50 were injured on Saturday - including 19 in critical condition - when a suicide bomber attacked a market in Tal Afar, police and medical officials said.

  • Rate this article
  • Average reader rating (0 votes) 0 Stars
Tools

Emailing an article to friend is a simple way to share a news item. Your friend will receive an email with your name and email address as well any personal message you choose to send.

The information you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited emails.

This service is not intended to encourage spam, and action may be taken against individuals who maliciously enter personal details of another individual.

Share this article

More from Iraq

  1. Amended Iraq poll law angers Sunnis

  2. Al Maliki ramps up attacks on Baathists

  3. Leaked documents question Blair's Iraq account

  4. Iraqi lawmakers seek to end election crisis

All articles in Iraq

More from Region

Gulf News
Popular in News
News Editor's choice