A suicide bomber detonated his car Monday at the gate of the home of the leader of Iraq's biggest political party, killing nine people and injuring 39, police said. The cleric was unharmed. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq _ the country's most powerful Shiite political group _ was in his residence in Baghdad's Jadiriyah district when the attack occurred, said his spokesman, Haitham al-Husseini. The blast, which shook the district and sent a cloud of smoke high above the area, killed nine people and injured 39, said a police commander on the scene who declined to be named. Thirty-two cars on the street and near the gates were destroyed or damaged. "It was a suicide attack near the gate leading to the office," al-Husseini said. "Several of the guards were killed and wounded." Hakim also heads the candidate list of the 228-member United Iraqi Alliance coalition, which is expected to dominate Iraq's new constitutional assembly following the first free elections on Jan. 30. The coalition is supported by Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
