A suicide car bomb exploded next to the car of Abdel-Zahraa Othman, a Shia Muslim widely known as Izzadine Saleem, as he waited to clear a US checkpoint outside the Green Zone.
Mr Saleem had been in a convoy of five vehicles when an adjacent car exploded, Mohammed Laith, a witness, said. There was no immediate official confirmation from the council but the witness said that Mr Saleem, his driver and assistant were among those killed.
Six Iraqis and two US soldiers were also injured in the bombing outside the coalition’s compound, which is known as the green zone, US Army Colonel Mike Murray said.
Smoke rose from the site of the blast, on the west side of the Tigris river, as firefighters and around 10 ambulances attended the scene.
Mr Saleem, a writer, philosopher and political activist, served as editor of several newspapers and magazines. He was the leader of the Islamic Dawa movement in the southern city of Basra, and was one of 25 council members to have held the organisation’s rotating presidency.
Ahmed Chalabi, who you will undoubtedly be relieved to know was apparently not anywhere near the explosion, lost no time in blaming the attack on Sunni Arabs in Fallujah:
”We, the allies of U.S., are hampered by law from protecting ourselves, but the terrorists are free to roam around and they have been given sanctuary in Fallujah,” Ahmad Chalabi said hours after the suicide bombing that killed Saleem, also known as Abdel-Zahraa Othman.
”The garage is open and car bombs are coming repeatedly,” he said.
”We are all now threatened, and I believe that drastic action must be taken by Iraqis,” he said without elaborating.
Chalabi didn’t say exactly what “action” Iraqis must take.