Gunmen ambush Iraqi Governing Council woman

Gunmen today ambushed a convoy carrying a member of the Iraqi Governing Council as she was returning to Baghdad from mediation efforts in Najaf, an aide said.

The council member survived but three bodyguards were killed.

Salama al-Khafaji was in a three-vehicle convoy that came under fire in the town of Yusufiyah, according to aide Rasoul Talib.

He said his information from one of the guards who was travelling in the car ahead of al-Khafaji’s.

Later, council member Mahmoud Othman said al-Khafaji had survived the ambush but her three guards were dead and her son was missing.

Othman said hi information from Amer al-Musawi, al-Khafaji’s deputy.

Al-Khafaji is one of three women on the Governing Council. She replaced another Shiite woman member, Aquila al-Hashimi, who was mortally wounded in September during an ambush near her Baghdad home.

Al-Khafaji was among several Shiite council members who travelled to Najaf today to help nail down a deal to stop the fighting in the holy city between United States soldiers and Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.