Iraq's oil minister survived an assassination attempt in Baghdad at the weekend, according to an Iraqi official caught up in the attack.
"A car overtook our motorcade as we approached our district in Baghdad . . . a man emerged with an AK-47 and started firing," Mr Nabeel Musawi, a deputy on Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council told journalists. "Our guards immediately shot back."
Mr Musawi said the attack happened as he was returning home with Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, the son of a leading Shi'ite scholar, in a seven-car convoy after a meeting on Sunday in central Baghdad.
"We need to hand over security operations to Iraqis so they can deal with the criminal element and terrorists. Iraqis know their counterparts better than a soldier from Pennsylvania or Arizona," he said.
Some pro-Saddam Iraqis and others have denounced top officials of the Governing Council as collaborators for working with occupying US forces.
Ms Akila al-Hashemi, a Council member, died from wounds after she was shot last month.
US troops are also coming under attack, with 97 soldiers killed by hostile fire since President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 1st.