[Iran Press TV Latest] Iraqi security forces have reportedly thwarted an assassination attempt targeting the leader of Iraq's largest Shia party, Ammar al-Hakim. Al-Qaeda-linked militants sought to gun down the high-ranking Shia figure during Eid al-Fitr prayers at a mosque in Baghdad last Monday. The plot was nonetheless foiled since intelligence forces at the Iraqi Intelligence Ministry had earlier been tipped off, an unnamed source at Hakim's bureau was quoted by eyeiraq news agency as saying.
The source added that the Iraqi police subsequently raided suspected houses in Baghdad's southwestern Sunni neighborhood of al-Bayaa and apprehended an insurgent guilty of the failed scenario.
Two other members of the terrorist cell remain at large. Bombs, light weaponry as well as explosive devices were recovered from their hideout.
Ammar al-Hakim took over the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council after the death of his influential father, Abdulaziz al-Hakim last month in Iran where he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer.