http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/14/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Chalabi.phpConvoy of Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi comes under mortar fire south of Baghdad
The Associated PressPublished: July 14, 2007
BAGHDAD: Senior Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi escaped unharmed Saturday when his convoy came under an attack by mortars and insurgent gunmen as he visited tribesmen in southern Iraq, a spokesman said.
Chalabi was meeting with the tribesmen in the town of Madain, on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, when the building came under mortar fire that landed near his entourage's cars outside, said Chalabi's spokesman Ayad Kazem Sabti.
Chalabi and his delegation fled the building, and as they drove away in their convoy, gunmen opened fire on them, Sabti said. No one in his convoy was hurt, he said.
A former prominent exile leader close to Washington, Chalabi was touted by some U.S. officials before the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein as a possible leader of Iraq, but he is widely mistrusted among Iraqis. He served as a deputy prime minister and oil minister in 2005, but in parliament elections at the end of that year, he and a political party he led failed to win a seat.