BREAKING: Ayatollah Baqr al-Hakim Killed In Najaf Blast

[gp]

Shi'ite Leader Among Up to 20 Killed in Najaf Bombing

Fri August 29, 2003 08:21 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Up to 20 people were killed in a car bomb attack outside the main mosque in the Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Najaf just after prayers Friday, a leading Shi'ite group said.
"It happened shortly after prayers. It was a car bomb and up to 20 people were killed," Adel Abdul Mahdi, an official of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told Reuters in Baghdad after receiving reports from Najaf.

Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim leader Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim was among those killed, his nephew told Reuters.

"Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim became a martyr." Mohsen Hakim, who is also a top official for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) based in Tehran, told Reuters. He would not give any further details.

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