IED targets Sistani aide

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: An aid of a top Shiite cleric in Sinjar said on Sunday that an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted his motorcade in the central part of the city on Saturday. “An IED planted on a road in 17 Tammuz neighborhood, west of Mosul, went off as the motorcade was passing by. The explosion left no casualties or losses,” Saad Ahmed al-Aaraji, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Sinjar district, west of Mosul, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “My father and a number of my relatives were with me on the motorcade,” said Aaraji, adding the explosion occurred right after the motorcade has passed by. He did not give further details. Aaraji is running the al-Imam al-Hakim School in Sinjar and heads of the weekly bulletin al-Hidaya, published in the predominantly religious Yazidi city. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. AmR (P) 1