DATE=9/25/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ (S)

NUMBER=2-307886

BYLINE=MICHAEL DRUDGE

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A member of Iraq's Governing Council has died of gunshot wounds suffered when assassins fired on her car on Saturday. The U-S military in Iraq is vowing to hunt down the killers of Akila al-Hashimi, as we hear from V-O-A's Michael Drudge.

TEXT: Ms. al-Hashimi died in a U-S military hospital in Baghdad Thursday.

She had been undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound to the abdomen, but despite two operations, doctors failed to stem her internal bleeding.

Ms. al-Hashimi was shot by unidentified assailants as she was being driven from her west Baghdad home on Saturday.

The commander of U-S forces in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, expressed his condolences, and said the search for the killers is continuing.

/// SANCHEZ ACT ///

We will continue to hunt down those who murdered her and who murder other innocent Iraqis, who now deserve to live in the freedom that they have worked so hard for.

/// END ACT ///

Ms. al-Hashimi was one of three women on the Governing Council, and she had been tapped to be the Iraqi representative at the United Nations. (SIGNED)

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