Ms Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women members of Iraq's Governing Council, was shot in the abdomen and critically wounded this morning in an assassination attempt outside her home in west Baghdad, police and doctors said.
A physician at al-Yarmouk hospital, who would not be named, said Ms al-Hashimi was in a critical condition with abdominal wounds.
Three of her bodyguards were also injured, according to a security guard at the al-Yarmouk facility.
An Iraqi security official said Ms al-Hashimi was immediately taken to surgery for a bullet wound in the left side of her abdomen.
She was then taken to an unknown location in a US military ambulance still unconscious, said the official who would not give his name.
Members of Ms al-Hashimi's security detail said the attack was carried out by men in two vehicles. They fired rocket-propelled grenades that missed her car, then opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
While at the al-Yarmouk facility, fellow council member Mr Ahmad Chalabi arrived. He was joined by Health Minister Dr Khudayer Abbas. Mr Chalabi is council president for September.
Mr Mohammed Abdul Ghany, a security official at al-Yarmouk Hospital, said the search for the attackers was under way.
AFP