Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on Iraq's American-picked Governing Council, died Thursday, five days after she was shot and critically wounded by assailants, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority reported.

She died about 11:30 a.m., said Gary Thatcher, coalition director of strategic communications.

Al-Hashimi was severely wounded in the attack with gunshots to the abdomen. She was ambushed by six men in a pickup truck while driving near her home in western Baghdad Saturday. She was preparing to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which opened in New York on Tuesday.

Al-Hashimi had been cared for a U.S. military hospital in the compound at Saddam Hussein's former Republican Palace in central Baghdad where the U.S.-led coalition has its headquarters.

Al-Hashimi, a career diplomat and Shiite Muslim, had been expected to become Iraq's new ambassador to the United Nations. She served in the Foreign Ministry during the Saddam government and was the only official of the ousted regime appointed to the 25-member Governing Council.

The Governing Council president, Ahmad Chalabi, blamed remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime, ousted by U.S.-led forces in April.

Chalabi attended the Security Council along with Adnan Pachachi, the elder statesman on the council and a former foreign minister in a government before Saddam Hussein seized power.

Al-Hashimi was a controversial choice for the council. She has served as a key aide to former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and often traveled abroad with him as he represented Saddam's government.

Al-Hashimi ran the oil-for-food program in the Foreign Ministry under which the United Nations allowed Iraq to exchange oil earnings for humanitarian goods.

She had a degree in law and a doctorate in French literature and viewed herself as a women's rights advocate. Her last role at the ministry was as director of international relations.

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