21/04/2005

Iraqi PM escapes suicide bomber attack

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi survived a suicide bomb assassination attempt on his convoy in Baghdad yesterday.

Two policemen are believed to have died in the attack, the fifth assassination attempt on Mr Allawi’s life since he took office.

The attack happened near a police checkpoint close to Mr Allawi’s home in the west of the city, as well as his party’s headquarters.

A statement issued on the Internet claimed that al-Qaeda members in Iraq carried out the attacks.

In a separate incident, a bomb attack on the road to Baghdad Airport killed two foreigners today.

There are fears that insurgent violence is rising once again in Iraq. There had been a relatively quite period following elections in January, the first to be held in the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. However, no decision has yet been made between the groups forming the coalition government on forming a new Cabinet.

(KMcA/GB)


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