Samarra local official survives attempt

SALAH AL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: The director of al-Mo’tassem escaped an assassination attempt with a hand-grenade that was thrown at his motorcade in the central part of the district on Thursday, a local police official in Samarra city said. “Hussein Mohammed al-Shatab, the director of al-Mo’tassem district, (20 km) southeast of Samarra, survived an attempt on his life when an unidentified man hurled a hand-grenade at his motorcade,” the source, who asked not to have his name mentioned, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “One of Shatab’s bodyguards sustained medium injuries while his vehicle was damaged,” the source added. “The policemen and the sahwa (awakening) tribal forces searched the nearby orchards but failed to arrest the assailant,” he said, not giving further details about the incident or its motives. Samarra, a city in Salah al-Din province, lies 120 km north of Baghdad. Shatab is one of the candidates in the local elections in Salah al-Din, 175 km north of the Iraqi capital, running under the Iraqi National List (INL) of former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. The list also includes prominent figures like Salah al-Din Governor Hamad al-Qaysi. AmR (P) 1