In Najaf, Iraq, on August 29, 2003, “a bomb exploded near the Tomb of Ali, one of the holiest of Shia Muslim shrines. Weekly prayers had ended and a mass of people were just leaving when the bomb exploded, collapsing the front entrance to the shrine. At least 100 people were killed and many more wounded. Among the dead–and the likely target of the attack–was Ayatollah Muhammed Bakr al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI [Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq].”
– Ricardo S. Sanchez with Donald T. Phillips, Wiser in Battle, Page 257