NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - A crowd hurling shoes, rocks and tomatoes forced former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to cut short a visit on Sunday to Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrine during a campaign trip to the city of Najaf, police officers said.
A spokeswoman for Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, said she had no information on the incident but confirmed that Allawi, who is challenging the ruling Shi'ite Islamist Alliance bloc at next week's parliamentary election, had been in Najaf during the day.