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Former Iraqi PM Allawi Reveals Latest Assassination Plot on His Life | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat – Iraq’s former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, revealed an Iraqi political faction planned to assassinate him by enlisting the help of a militia group and indicated he had obtained a detailed copy of plot from a trusted intelligence source last week.

In an exclusive meeting with Asharq al Awsat on Sunday at his Baghdad office, the head of the Iraqi National Accord, one of the biggest political groups to contest next month’s elections indicated, “I received a report from a trusted intelligence source featuring an exhaustive plan to assassinate me with the help of an Iraqi political group and one of the militias.”

The target of several unsuccessful attempts since his return to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Allawi said, “I wasn’t surprised about being targeted but I was shocked by the details and the nature of the groups involved in the plot which I will not name; they even specified which weapons they would use.”

Iraq’s former Prime Minister added, “I find myself walking through mine fields. We are targeted in an attempt to distance us from the leadership of Iraq and achieving national unity because we reject sectarianism and ethnic conflicts while reaffirming we are part of the Arab and Muslim worlds.”

According to the document, seen by Asharq al Awsat, a high-ranking official in an Iraqi political group planned to leave his party and join the Iraqi National Alliance. The former Prime Minster would then be lured for a meeting with the previously mentioned official in a southern province and targeted.

Members of an Iraqi militia held recent meetings in a southern city close to Basra to plan a “vengeance attack” to murder Allawi during his future visit, the report added. It was decided that 50 Kalashnikov rifles and 20 BKC rifles and an unspecified number of sniper rifles would be used in the attack. Training and financing were overseen by a leading Iraqi figure whose home was used as a meeting point.

Allawi was the target of a failed assassination attempt, the third of its kind, only two months ago. At the time, he told Asharq al Awsat, “The perpetrators were caught and the investigation continues. They are from a neighboring country and I hope the authorities were not involved in the plot.”

Parliamentary elections in Iraq will take place in mid-November with Allawi’s group expected to be well-represented in the next parliament.