Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, killed Friday in a bombing in Najaf, Iraq, was a leader of one of

Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, killed Friday in a bombing in Najaf, Iraq, was a leader of one of the major Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq.
Age: 64, born in Najaf, Iraq. Najafis regarded by the world's 120 million Shiite Muslims as the third holiest in the world after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Family: One of the most influential among Iraqi Shiite Muslims. Five of Hakim's brothers and more than a dozen other relatives were killed by Saddam Hussein.
Exile: Imprisoned, tortured as opposition leader to Saddam in the 1970s. He fled to Iran in 1980 and returned to Iraq May 10, 2003, after the fall of Saddam.
Group: Founded the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. He advocated Islamic rule for Iraq and had an armed militia of about 15,000 members.
Source: Knight Ridder Tribune