Top Sunni official says suicide attack against him was not carried by his guard

Iraq's Sunni Arab deputy prime minister who was seriously injured in attempt of assassination last month said that an “Arab terrorist” was not one of his guards as early reported.

Salam al-Zubaie told state-run Iraqiya television that the attacker slipped into his home from "a place near the kitchen, with the help of a person who was bribed - a person who it later became clear was mentally unstable."

Last month, a suicide bomber detonated himself in a small mosque attached to a-Zubaie's home in Baghdad, killing nine people and seriously wounding the deputy prime minister, who is the most senior Sunni Arab official in Iraq's Shiite-led government.

"The Arab terrorist ... came toward us while we were praying and denoted himself. He detonated his rotten body and the martyrs were torn to pieces," al-Zubaie said, referring to the nine people killed, including his brother.

The Iraqi military has said an al-Qaida fighter infiltrated al-Zubaie's security detachment.

Two weeks after the attempt on al-Zubaie's life, a suicide bomber exploded in the Iraqi parliament's cafeteria, killing one legislator and wounding several others.

The Islamic State in Iraq, a network of terror groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Al-Zubaie was first treated in a Baghdad hospital, then flown to neighboring Jordan until he was discharged April 3. In Jordan, he underwent medical tests and was treated for wounds to his chest, abdomen and shoulder caused by shrapnel and burns, according to Iraq's ambassador to Jordan.