In Mosul, mortar shells were fired at the entourage of U.S-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi as he was leaving the northern city. Journalists reported hearing five explosions. Allawi was not harmed. When asked about the attack, Allawi suggested he was expecting to face an assassination attempt. He said, “My visit to Mosul had been announced publicly, and I was surprised that this did not happen at the beginning of my visit, but only at the end.” Meanwhile a member of Allawi’s National Accord Party was assassinated in Samarra on Wednesday.