Explosion kills 10 near Imam Ali Shrine in al-Najaf; al-Hakim wounded in assassination attempt

Ayatullah Muhammad Saeed al-Hakim, one of the prominent Shiite figures, was slightly wounded in the neck in an explosion in his house in al-Najaf, that resulted in killing three persons and wounding 10 others.

The "high council for the Islamic revolution" in Iraq accused former members in the former Baath regime and Saddam Hussein's supporters "of being behind this explosion in order to flare up a war between the Sunni and the Shiite."

Mohsin al- Hakim, the Political advisor for member of the transitional governing council Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, said that an explosive stuck to a gas cylinder went off behind the wall of Ayatullah al-Hakim office after he had finished prayers at the Shrine of Imam Ali in al-Najaf. He added that al- Hakim was slightly wounded in the neck.

He said "we first suspect former members in the former Baath party regime, and Saddam Hussein's supporters, who want war to erupt between the Shiite and the Sunni."

He stressed "we hold the American forces which are the occupation forces in the view of the international law the responsibility to ensure security." Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is the brother of the leader of Iraq's chairman of the Higher Council for the Islamic Revolution, Muhammad Baker al-Hakim.