Allawi says warned of life attempts

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose slate won the March 7 elections, says he has received warnings that “evil people” are plotting to assassinate him.

“I got a letter from the Americans saying that there is a plot against me,” Allawi said in an interview with The Times newspaper on Monday.

“Then some other friends in high positions also told me the same thing. These are evil people’s designs,” he told the UK-based paper.

Under growing fears of attempts on his life, Allawi has requested extra security measures from the Americans, who put up more concrete barriers around his house.

He claimed he made an appeal for help to the Americans as the Iraqi government had turned down his request for more protection around his place of residence.

Allawi, who came first with a narrow lead ahead of incumbent Premier Nouri al-Maliki in the key parliamentary vote in March, suggested that his electoral rival might be aiding the work of those targeting him, AFP cited the The Times as saying.

Allawi’s al-Iraqiya alliance secured 91 seats in the 325-member parliament but failed to achieve the outright parliamentary majority it needed to form a government.