Iraqi deputy escapes grenades

Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam's deputy on the powerful Revolutionary Command Council, was attending a religious ceremony Sunday when assailants threw two grenades at him as he got out of his car, according to the report.

Several bodyguards and bystanders were wounded, the television reported. It said Ibrahim was not injured.

The attack in Kerbala, a Shiite Muslim holy city, came a day before Iraqi opposition groups met in London to find ways to unite their ranks. It was the first reported assassination attempt on a senior Iraqi official since December 1996, when gunmen shot Saddam's eldest son, Odai, about 10 times while he waited in his car in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood.

Odai, Saddam's heir apparent, survived the attack but now walks with the aid of a cane.

Kerbala is in the southern Shiite Muslim heartland, which has long been a source of opposition to Saddam.

Opposition groups have said that fighting has renewed in recent months in southern Iraq.

Opposition groups based in London said earlier this month that Ibrahim commanded some Iraqi units sent to fight Shiite rebels in the southern marshes.

Shiite Muslim rebels have staged hit-and-run attacks since the Iraqi army crushed their uprising in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.

Despite Saturday's attack, Ibrahim continued his activities and attended a religious festival held to commemorate the birthday of Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson and Shiite Muslims' most revered saint, the television said. He delivered a speech on behalf of Saddam, it said.

Investigations were under way to apprehend "the perpetrators of this heinous crime," the television added.

Ibrahim is a powerful figure within Iraq's ruling elite and serves as a deputy commander of the Iraqi armed forces.

He is one of Saddam's must trusted lieutenants and is officially the No. 2 man in the Iraqi ruling hierarchy. Like most of the elite, however, he holds little personal power and his authority depends on his association with Saddam.

Top Iraqi officials are well protected by loyal troops and usually only venture out to meet hand-picked crowds.

Saddam is known to take special security precautions and rotates the places where he sleeps to foil possible attackers. In rare public appearances, scores of elite Special Security Service troops cluster around him.

11-24-98