ALLAWI
BAGHDAD (AP):
FORMER PRIME Minister Ayad Allawi said an attempt was made on his life yesterday during a visit to a Shi'ite holy city in southern Iraq, adding that about 60 men armed with pistol, knives and swords planned to attack him.
Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, said the attempt was made while he was performing prayers at the Shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest Shi'ite sites in Iraq. He said that he went to Najaf at the invitation of the city's top clerics.
"They were planning to kill the whole delegation, or at least me," Allawi told reporters shortly after he arrived back in Baghdad. "One of them took out his pistol, but he panicked and it fell from his hand."
Earlier in the day, police said that about a dozen people, some of them carrying clubs, tried to prevent Allawi from entering the shrine.
SHOES AND STONES
Footage shown on television stations showed Allawi running from the shrine as shoes and stones were thrown at him. Allawi is a Member of Parliament and is contesting a general election due December 15 as the head of a secular-oriented alliance that includes Sunni Arab figures.
"As I was praying, a group of 60 or 70 people, wearing black uniforms, and carrying swords and pistols moved toward us as they chanted slogans against us. It became clear that it was an assassination attempt similar to what happened to cleric Abdul-Majid al-Khoei," Allawi said.
He was referring to the April 2003 slaying by an angry mob of al-Khoei, a moderate cleric, outside Imam Ali's shrine in Najaf. Fire-brand Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and a band of his followers, including several top aides, have been linked to the killing, but the case against them has been dropped for political reasons.
Allawi said that at least seven bullets were fired from the crowd yesterday.
In August 2004, when Allawi was Prime Minister, Iraqi and U.S. troops took over Najaf from al-Sadr's loyal militiamen after heavy fighting. Many Shi'ites, particularly al-Sadr's followers, have not forgiven Allawi for his role in that assault.
