Attempt to Kill Iraqi Ayatollah Reported
By DEXTER FILKINS and EDWARD WONG
NY Times
Published: February 6, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 5 — Unidentified attackers tried Thursday to kill Iraq's most powerful spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, according to some accounts here, but the American military said it had no confirmation of any such attack. Ayatollah Sistani, spiritual leader of Iraq's 15 million Shiites, is a central figure in the postwar Iraqi political scene, and his influence is considered crucial to help smooth the transition of power to the Iraqi people.

Al Jazeera, the Arab-language television station, reported that gunmen had fired at Ayatollah Sistani as he left his office to go home. The Reuters news agency quoted a member of his security detail as saying gunmen "opened fire" on the ayatollah at 10 a.m. as he greeted people in Najaf. More than 12 hours later, no witnesses had emerged, and The Associated Press quoted a shopowner whose store is in the area as saying nothing had happened. A person who answered the phone at the ayatollah's office in Najaf on Thursday night called the reports of an attack "lies" and hung up. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a political party with ties to Ayatollah Sistani, said there had been no attack, as did the son of another ayatollah in Najaf.