Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat – Reliable Iraqi security sources revealed Thursday details of a new elaborate plot to assassinate the head of the Iraqiya List and former head of the Iraqi government Iyad Allawi. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the plot that was “ready to be implemented” became known to “pro-Allawi security, military, and government apparatus.”

According to sources the “plot was going to begin with preventing any civilian aircraft carrying Allawi from reaching or landing in the Al Muthanna Air Base near the Baghdad International Airport and forcing him (Allawi) to use the normal route, i.e. Baghdad International.”

The sources added that the plot was going to be implemented “on his first flight journey whether inside or outside of Iraq, since the conspirators would have been ready to implement the assassination plot at the Baghdad International Airport by using a sniper armed with a silencer rifle and would be killed after carrying out the operation to ensure it would not be revealed. The sources added that “top-level and important government parties are embroiled in the operation of plotting the assassination of Iyad Allawi.”

The sources added, “Allawi’s security and protection team received official instructions the night before last that the Al Muthanna Air Base is not to be used by civilian planes knowing that Allawi used and still uses this airport the most for security-related reasons.”

Asharq Al-Awsat recently published a report on an elaborate plot for the assassination of the head of the Iraqiya List before the formation of the Iraqi government based on security information and warnings from Iraqi, Arab and US intelligence bodies.