Abdul Aziz al-Hakim calls for electing constitution's committee
Calls for Iraqi unity and handing over security to parties in a celebration characterized by the call to national unity, where some 50,000 persons in al-Najaf yesterday commemorated the 40-day death of the chairman of the Islamic Revolution Higher Council, Muhammad Baker al-Hakim, in an explosion which targeted the shrine of Imam Ali.
Meantime, the American occupation army announced the detention of one person in Baqouba, on Thursday evening described as a prominent figure under the rule of the toppled Saddam Hussein. An American military spokeswoman said that another person described to be a former general, was detained in the same operation. She did not disclose the names of the two men.
The occupation army also announced that its soldiers saw two Iraqis killed trying to implant a bomb on the sideline of one road in Karkouk while other two were also killed when a bomb went off in a traffic jam in Tikrit. The American army added that its unit raided yesterday at dawn at Salman Bey village during which they found weapons stores and detained three persons described to be among Saddam Fedayeen group.
Five Iraqis were wounded when Iraqi resistance fighters threw a mortar at an American patrol parked in front of al-Karmeh hotel in south central Baghdad. The occupation army also announced the killing of one of its soldiers, drowned in a swimming pool in Baghdad.
In al-Najaf, thousands of persons took to the streets of the city chanting slogans against Saddam Hussein and supporting the current chairman of the higher council of the Islamic revolution Abdul Aziz al-Hakim who stressed to the masses the need that the Iraqi people elect members of the constitutions formulation committee.
During the gathering, al-Hakim explained that "the permanent constitution for the country should be formulated by a committed elected by the Iraqi people and is to be approved through a general referendum." He added, in remarks to his late brother "he was not for one community. He was working for all sects. He was careful to work for national unity and the need that the Iraqi people to obtain their basic rights: freedom; independence and justice."