Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
[STK]
[IN] PUB
[SU] FOR AVO
TO FOREIGN, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Iraq Sunni Leader Survives Attack By Government Forces
ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, April 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Saleh
Mutlaq, chairman of Iraq's Al Arabiya Coalition and currently deputy
prime minister of Iraq, survived an armed attack on his convoy at the
entrance to the al Anbar governorate this morning. One of Dr. Saleh's
bodyguards was seriously injured, as were two soldiers with the 9th
Division of the Iraqi Army, which initiated fire against Mutlaq's
convoy.
State-controlled Iraqi news stations are reporting that Mutlaq was
attacked by armed insurgents and was rescued by the military.
Eyewitnesses and members of Mutlaq's security detail challenge this
characterization and assert that uniformed members of the 9th Division
of the Iraqi Army opened fire on the deputy prime minister's convoy at
150 meters. Mutlaq's detail returned fire, advanced on the attackers,
who retreated, and took two injured soldiers with them back to Baghdad
where they are being treated at a military hospital.
Mutlaq's convoy was held at the Falcon's Gate, on the border of the
Baghdad and Anbar governorates, for more than ten minutes while an
Iraqi army checkpoint verified their travel clearance. The convoy was
then cleared to advance and after five kilometers came under
vehicle-mounted PKM machine gun fire from an Iraqi army position
marked by U.S.-made Humvees.
Mutlaq has been a critic of the Iraqi government's policies in the
Anbar governorate and has called for reform of the army, which many
Iraqis currently believe is seriously unbalanced in favor of the Shi'a
government of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki. Iraq is scheduled to
hold a parliamentary election on April 30th, which will be Iraq's
first national-level election since U.S. forces withdrew from the
country in 2011.
"If the state-influenced media is reporting that the attack on Dr.
Saleh today was the work of insurgents, when all present clearly saw
and returned fire with a brigade of the 9th Division, this incident
calls into question every report the Iraqi government is making about
what is happening in the Anbar governorate," said Sam Patten, Office
of Sam Patten, a spokesperson for Mutlaq.
Mutlaq, who was traveling with a member of parliament, is safe and in
a secure location presently. He will hold a press conference on the
incident tomorrow.
SOURCE Office of Sam Patten
-0- 04/11/2014
/CONTACT: Sam Patten, +1 202 375 3146 or w.s.patten@gmail.com
CO: Office of Sam Patten
ST: Iraq
IN: PUB
SU: FOR AVO
PRN
-- PH03824 --
0000 04/11/2014 19:01:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
