ATTACKS AGAINST PROGRESS

Men firing assault rifles and grenades seriously wounded Aqila Al-Hashimi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, yesterday, in the latest of attacks against Iraqis who cooperate with the U.S. occupation.

Various witnesses told journalists that as many as six men in two sport utility vehicles opened fire on Al-Hashimi's car as she left her home in a neighborhood of western Baghdad. They hit her and three of her bodyguards before fleeing, neighbors and members of her security team said. It was the first assassination attempt against a member of the governing council.

Al-Hashimi had been preparing to leave for a UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Tuesday. She was to help campaign for the U.S. appointed council to be seated at the United Nations.

And then there was this today:

A car bomb exploded Monday morning while the vehicle was being examined at a checkpoint as it tried to enter the U.N. compound, killing at least one person and injuring eight others.

The blast occurred about 100 yards from the U.N. compound at the Canal Hotel, scene of a devastating car bombing last month that killed 23 people, including the U.N.'s top envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

"The bomber drove up and was engaged by an Iraqi security individual just before the checkpoint," a U.S. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment spokesman, Capt. Sean Kirley, told reporters at the scene. That policeman was killed, although it was not clear whether he was shot or died in the explosion, he said.

Note that neither of these were directed at Americans.