Nine die as Iraqi suicide bomber targets Shiite leader

At least nine people died and 39 were injured when a suicide bomber targeted the home of the leader of Iraq’s biggest political party today.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq – the country’s most powerful Shiite political group – was in his home in Baghdad’s Jadiriyah district when the attack occurred, said his spokesman, Haitham al-Husseini.

He said the cleric was not injured.

The blast, which shook the district and sent a cloud of smoke high above the area, killed nine people and injured 39, said a police commander. Thirty-two cars on the street and near the gates were destroyed or damaged.

“It was a suicide attack near the gate leading to the office,” al-Husseini said. “Several of the guards were killed and wounded.”

Hakim also heads the candidate list of the United Iraqi Alliance coalition, which is expected to dominate Iraq’s new constitutional assembly following the first free elections next month.

The residence, where Hakim has his home and offices, was previously the house of Tariq Aziz, a jailed former senior aide to Saddam Hussein who has been in prison since April last year.

Political and religious leaders of the Shiite community, who strongly back the holding of next month’s vote, have been repeatedly targeted by the mainly Sunni Muslim insurgents since Saddam’s overthrow.