IIP has evidence members are targeted – legislator

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi Islamic Party lawmaker said the IIP has evidence that some parties are “involved” in targeting its members in a number of provinces, expecting stronger campaigns to target the members of the Sunni party in the coming stage. “We have submitted the evidence to the Iraqi judiciary. We already filed lawsuits to the judiciary and we’re still waiting for replies,” Rasheed al-Azzawi told IraqiNews.com news agency. Azzawi’s statements came less than one day after Jamal al-Kilani, the IIP official in Tikrit city, escaped an attempt on his life with an improvised explosive device that went off near his vehicle in central Tikrit on Saturday (Feb. 21) evening. Kilani’s driver sustained medium injuries while his vehicle was damaged. “Attempts on the lives of IIP members have never stopped since 2005,” Azzawi said, adding “some parties have tried to force the IIP to change its policies and when they failed politically, they resorted to assassinations and liquidations”. IIP leading member Sameer Safwat was killed on Feb. 18 when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a vehicle he was boarding a little after he stepped out of his house in al-Zaafaraniya neighborhood, southeastern Baghdad. Fellow IIP member Omar Farouq al-Aani had earlier been assassinated while returning home from an election rally in the western Baghdad area of al-Amiriya. AmR (P)/SR 1