IRAQ: GUNMEN WOUND IRAQI WOMAN POLITICIAN AKILA AL-HASHEMI, MEMBER OF THE COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY

Record ID: 646004

  • Title: IRAQ: GUNMEN WOUND IRAQI WOMAN POLITICIAN AKILA AL-HASHEMI, MEMBER OF THE COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY
  • Date: 23rd June 2003
  • Summary: (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS) SLV AMBULANCE ARRIVING OUTSIDE HOSPITAL WHERE GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER AKILA AL-HASHEMI WAS TAKEN SMV U.S. MILITARY WITH MACHINE GUN AT THE HOSPITAL WIDE OF PATIENT BEING TAKEN OUT OF AMBULANCE (NOT CONFIRMED IF THIS IS HASHEMI) WIDE OF PEOPLE WATCHING FROM INSIDE HOSPITAL SMV OF CROWDS AT SCENE WIDE OF MILITARY MEDICAL VEHICLES LEAVING HOSPITAL (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS) SLV IRAQI POLICE VEHICLES AT SCENE (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS) WIDE OF IRAQI POLICE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF BUILDING NEAR SCENE OF SHOOTING SLV IRAQI POLICE AT SCENE VARIOUS , FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) INVESTIGATORS ARRIVING (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS) SMV CROWDS LOOKING AT STOPPED CAR CLOSE OF BULLET HOLE IN FRONT OF CAR CLOSE OF BULLET HOLES VARIOUS OF BLOODSTAINS AT THE SCENE SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FIRAS ISMAIL SECURITY GUARD FOR THE AREA SAYING: "I was guarding the school nearby when we heard shooting. I rushed out and saw the car crashing into this house. One of the body guards, her brother, got out of the car with his gun shouting 'Help! Dr Akila was shot!' The attackers car was heading towards us and I started shooting with my kalashnikov. During the shooting they turned around and left the area." VARIOUS OF DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE CRASH (3 SHOTS) CLOSE OF DAMAGE TO THE CAR AFTER GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBERS AKILA AL-HASHEMI'S VEHICLE CRASHED INTO THE HOUSE SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FIRAS ISMAIL, SECURITY GUARD FOR THE AREA SAYING: "I went to the car and we pulled Dr Akila out of the car and then sent her to Yarmuk hospital. She was conscious at the time and shot in the stomach."
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA1ZYS9U5C5HKJURQQ8RQGNYW5
  • Story Text: Gunmen open fire in Baghdad, wounding woman on U.S. appointed Governing Council Gunmen opened fire on a car carrying one of the three women on Iraq's 25-member U.S.-appointed Governing Council on Saturday (September 20), seriously wounding her and three bodyguards, locals and hospital officials said.
    Nurses at Baghdad's Yarmuk Hospital said Akila al-Hashemi, a Shi'ite Muslim and career diplomat, had been shot in the abdomen. They said she was later removed to a U.S. army medical facility.
    Hospital officials said three of her bodyguards were also wounded, one critically.
    The car was ambushed close to Hashemi's home in western Baghdad. A policeman at Yarmuk hospital said Hashemi's car had been shot at by several armed men in a car, and that two suspects had been arrested after the attack.
    Locals at the scene said Hashemi's car had its tyres shot out and crashed through a nearby garage in an effort to evade the gunmen.
    "I was guarding the school nearby when we heard shooting. I rushed out and saw the car crashing into this house. One of the body guards, her brother, got out of the car with his gun shouting 'Help! Dr Akila was shot," said Firas Ismail, a local security guard.
    "I went to the car and we pulled Dr Akila out of the car and then sent her to Yarmuk hospital. She was conscious at the time and shot in the stomach," he added.
    Blood was still visible at the scene, as were bullet holes on the gate of a nearby house. Iraqi police sealed off the site and U.S. FBI officials were also at the scene.
    Hashemi had been due to travel to the United States this month as one of the members of the Iraqi delegation attending next week's United Nations General Assembly meeting. She was one of three Governing Council members in an Iraqi delegation to the U.N. Security Council in July.
    "We are shocked and saddened by this horrific and cowardly act against a colleague and a respected member of the governing council of Iraq," Paul Bremer, the U.S.
    administrator of Iraq, said in a statement.
    Some Iraqis have denounced the Governing Council for cooperating with Iraq's U.S.-led administration. Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, head of a Shi'ite Muslim party represented on the council, was killed last month in a car bomb attack in the holy city of Najaf.
    Guerrilla attacks have killed 76 U.S. soldiers since Washington declared major combat over on May 1. Iraqi police, and translators working for the U.S. military, have also been targeted in attacks.
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