Some 33 Iraqi police, and national guard members killed

By the end of another bloody day in Iraq in which 33 Iraqis were killed, Abu Musab al-Zarqawei group claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt of the leader of the Higher Council For the Islamic Revolution in Iraq Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

A statement attributed to al-Zarqawi group published on Tuesday on the Internet said that one member of "the martyrs group" in Mesopotamia al-Qaida organization targeted the office of al-Hakim, bowing to repeat the attempt "again." The attack which al-Hakim had survived and 12 persons were killed and other 66 injured in on Monday is the second claimed by al-Zarqawi against al-Hakim family.

Former leader of the higher council Ayatullah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim -- brother of Abdul Aziz -- was killed in a similar attack said that al-Zarqawi group had carried out in al-Najaf in August last year. It was stated that the executor of the attack was the father of one of al-Zarqawi's two wives.