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Iraq's Shia leader Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani has escaped an assassination attempt in the city of Najaf.
A member of the US-appointed occupation administration, the cleric is still in the Shia pilgrimage city on Thursday awaiting a UN mission that will review the cleric's political demands. His spokesman and fellow Governing Council member, Muwaffaq al-Rubai, confirmed Wednesday's assassination attempt but said little else other than that al-Sistani is "safe and sound". Shia targets Speaking to Aljazeera, al-Rubai said: "We are not astonished that Ayat Allah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, the revered Shia cleric, should be a target … he is calling for democracy and rebuilding a new Iraq." Last October, a similar assassination attempt was made when unknown assailants attacked with machine guns and hand grenades.
The death of Ayat Allah Muhammad In September 2003, Shia cleric Ayat Allah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim – the former leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq – died in a Najaf car bombing along with 80 of his followers. Mortar attack Elsewhere in Iraq, a US soldier was killed on Thursday when four mortars struck a logistics base near Baghdad's airport. The attack also wounded another marine. The fatality raises the total number of US troops killed in Iraq to 529, 369 in combat and 160 in non-combat deaths. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/86848575-ED24-4711-AF8A-F6425235633B.htm
It is not clear who is behind the attempts on the cleric's life, as sectarian clashes, resistant operations and attacks on civilian targets have been a common occurrence since April.
Baqir al-Hakim outraged thousands
Unofficial war estimates put the Iraqi military toll at between five and six thousand, while a website run by academics and peace activists, www.iraqbodycount.net, puts the number of civilian deaths at around 9000.