Interior Ministry official escapes attempt on life

BAGHDAD, Sept. 21 (Iraqi News) – An Iraqi Interior Ministry official survived an assassination attempt in western Baghdad, the National Command chief said on Sunday.                “Unknown gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying the director of the criminal record department, Brig. Adel Abbas Ibrahim, in al-Adl neighborhood, western Baghdad, wounding him and his driver,” Staff Maj. Gen. Abdelkareem Khalaf told IraqiNews.com- Voices of Iraq- (Iraqi News). The brigadier has been taken to the hospital for treatment and is currently in a stable condition, Khalaf noted. Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and Baghdad province. With a municipal population estimated at 7,000,000, it is the largest city in Iraq. It is the second largest city in the Arab world (after Cairo) and the second largest city in southwest Asia (after Tehran). Located on the Tigris River, the city dates back to at least the 8 th century, and probably to pre-Islamic times. Once the center of Dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam), Baghdad has been a center of violent conflict since 2003 because of the ongoing Iraq war. Baghdad’s population is a mix of Sunnis and Shiites. It is mainly divided into two sides: the west (al-Karkh) and the east (al-Rasafa).   SS (S) 1