Attack On Iraqi Leader Reported

An Iraqi presidential guard planted a bomb at one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces, then shot and killed several security officers after the explosion missed Saddam, an Iraqi opposition group claimed Sunday.

The statement by the Tehranbased Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq was the latest of a flurry of reports by opposition groups of coup and assassination attempts and arrests.

None of the reports have been verified.

Baghdad residents contacted by telephone in the past few days reported no indications of unusual concern, though surveillance and security in the capital routinely are high.

In a fax sent to The Associated Press in Nicosia, the opposition group claimed an officer in the presidential security guard, Mohammed Ayyash al-Tikriti, was responsible for the bomb and the shootings.

The opposition group didn’t specify when or where the alleged assassination attempt occurred.