NAJAF, Sept 8: The son of a top Iraqi Shia leader confirmed on Monday that his father, Ayatollah Bashir al Najafi, had been the target of an assassination attempt last week.

A man arrested over the assassination bid on Saturday admitted “belonging to a network”, Ali al Najafi said.

The son identified the detained man as “Mohammad Saheb, 20, from the Al Tobji quarter in Baghdad”.

“He confessed that he was on a mission to observe and find a way to assassinate (Ayatollah Najafi) if the occasion permitted,” he said, adding that the man said he was trained by a man he identified as Abu Omar. —AFP