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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072100442_pf.html

Top Aide to Sistani Fatally Stabbed in Najaf
Iraqi Police Take Four Suspects Into Custody

By Megan Greenwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 21, 2007; 5:04 PM (excerpted)

BAGHDAD, July 21 — A top aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani was stabbed to death in what Sistani’s supporters believe was a warning to Iraq’s senior Shiite cleric, authorities said Saturday.

Abdullah Falaq was killed Friday in his office, which is adjacent to Sistani’s home in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, according to an aide to the cleric. Sistani is considered one of the most influential Shiite leaders in Iraq, and Falaq was his chief adviser on matters of Islamic law.

Police said they had taken four suspects into custody. An officer said he could not comment on whether the men are part of any insurgent group. In January, an attempt to assassinate Sistani was foiled during a battle between U.S. and Iraqi military forces and insurgents in Najaf.

A representative from Sistani’s office said that he was concerned that an armed attacker had gained entrance to the heavily guarded compound with a weapon and that he suspects one of the cleric’s bodyguards had aided the killer. He said officials close to Sistani interpreted the attack as a threat to the ayatollah and are considering moving him out of Najaf. . .

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040811-123531-3824r.htm

U.S. Officials: Al Qaeda Plans Major Assassination; Bin Laden Will Signal Attack

August 11, 2004
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES (excerpted)

U.S. intelligence officials say a high-profile political assassination, triggered by the public release of a new message from Osama bin Laden, will lead off the next major al Qaeda terrorist attack, The Washington Times has learned. The assassination plan is among new details of al Qaeda plots disclosed by U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports who, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the killing could be carried out against a U.S. or foreign leader either in the United States or abroad. . .