September 22, 2003	Monday	Rajab 24, 1424

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BAGHDAD, Sept 21: Iraqi Governing Council (GC) member Akila al-Hashimi was in “critical but stable” condition on Sunday after two operations for gunshot wounds suffered in an assassination attempt, officials here said.

Hashimi was ambushed early Saturday by gunmen who sprayed her two-car convoy with machinegun fire in the first such attack on an official of the US-installed administration.

“Dr. Akila al-Hashimi is still in critical, but stable condition,” the Governing Council said in a terse statement issued on Sunday. “She had surgery last night and she is continuing to improve.”

Douglas Brand, chief adviser to the Iraqi police for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), said Hashimi was under the care of top American doctors at an unspecified US military facility.

“Mrs. Hashimi has undergone two operations,” Brand told reporters, echoing that she was in “critical but stable condition.”

Earlier, Entefadh Qanbar, a spokesman for council president Ahmad Chalabi, quoted a doctor treating Hashimi as saying “her health is stable and that she is out of danger.”

“She still requires a lot of work before she recovers from her wounds,” Qanbar said. “Her pulse and blood pressure are normal.”

Mohammad Tamimi, a spokesman for Hashimi, said her condition after the attack early Saturday was “constantly improving.”—AFP