ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Muhammad Ali Zainy, the pro tem speaker of the Iraqi parliament, claims he is currently holed up in the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad’s Green Zone following an attempt on his life.

“I am currently under siege in the Rasheed Hotel, with my guards, following an attempted assault by suspects. The Baghdad rescue police returned me to this hotel, and it is still my residence,” Zainy said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

As the oldest member of the Iraqi parliament, Zainy is currently the acting speaker until a new candidate is elected.

Political tensions are rife in Baghdad as the main Shiite parties compete to create a government – several months after Iraq’s May 12 election. Alliances and allegiances change daily.

The pro tem speaker rejected claims he has a “puffed belly” from official expenses, saying he is paying for his hotel stay from his own pocket. “This place is expensive, and it isn’t normal for me to reside in such expensive hotels,” Zainy added.

He said he would like to move somewhere more affordable, but there is nowhere with the same level of security offered by the Green Zone.

“There is nothing that can be done. This is the truth! Believe me,” he said.

A relative of Zainy told Baghdad Today that unknown attackers blocked Zainy’s car as it was passing through the city’s Karadah district, across the river from the Green Zone. His car was not armored like other official vehicles.

Zainy and his entourage managed to escape the assailants. Police urged him to stay within the Green Zone perimeter for his own safety.

However, the parliament’s media office says Zainy is merely residing in the hotel because it is close to parliament.

“The media office of the Iraqi Council of Representatives would like to declare to the public that Mr. Muhammad Ali Zainy, the age Speaker for the current Council of Representatives, resides in the Rasheed Hotel due to its proximity to the parliament in which he is present daily,” read a statement from the parliamentary media office on Sunday.

Zainy will chair the parliamentary session scheduled for September 15, where an official speaker is due to be elected.

Baghdad and Iraq’s southern cities are known to be hotbeds for Shiite militias competing for power, often kidnapping or killing their opponents.

On Friday just after midnight, three mortar shells landed inside in the Green Zone. The Iraqi military said there were no casualties and no buildings were damaged.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rudaw