Adviser to al-Sistani killed
BAGHDAD – A top aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was stabbed to death in what al-Sistani’s supporters believe was a warning to Iraq’s senior Shiite cleric, authorities said Saturday.
Abdullah Falaq was killed Friday in his office, adjacent to al-Sistani’s home in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, according to an aide to the cleric. Al-Sistani is considered one of the most influential Shiite leaders in Iraq, and Falaq was his chief adviser on matters of Islamic law.
Police said they had taken four suspects into custody. An officer said he could not comment on whether the men are part of any insurgent group. In January, an attempt to assassinate al-Sistani was foiled during a battle between U.S. and Iraqi military forces and insurgents in Najaf.
A representative from al-Sistani’s office said he was concerned that an armed attacker had gained entrance to the heavily guarded compound with a weapon and that he suspects one of the cleric’s bodyguards had aided the killer. He said officials close to al-Sistani interpreted the attack as a threat to the ayatollah and are considering moving him out of Najaf.
U.S. launches attack
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said American troops fired missiles and dropped a bomb on a house from which suspected insurgents had been firing in northeast Baghdad. Six insurgents were killed, the military said. Iraqi police said at least 18 civilians were also killed, but the U.S. military reported no other casualties.
Scenes on Iraqi television stations showed several women and children who reporters said were wounded in the airstrike. Those reports could not be independently verified.
The military also reported that a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Diyala province, east of Baghdad. The soldier was not identified.
Shorter recess?
Also Saturday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly asked the Iraqi parliament to cancel its August recess or shorten it to two weeks. Legislators are scheduled to consider significant bills in the coming days, several of which President Bush has said he hopes will be finished by Sept. 15, the due date for a key report on the status of the war.
A statement from al-Maliki’s office said he hoped “parliament would cancel its summer vacation or limit it to a fortnight to help the government solve pending issues.”
Several lawmakers said that they appreciated al-Maliki’s sentiment but that the August vacation would go on as planned. Last year, lawmakers took a two-month summer break.
“The parliament cannot accept this request because it is unconstitutional,” said Khudair al-Khuzai, minister of education and a member of al-Maliki’s Dawa party. The Iraqi constitution specifies a two-month recess for lawmakers between each of the year’s two legislative sessions; the prime minister can choose to extend each session for no more than one month.