Iraq's outgoing Prime MinisterIyad Allawi escaped an assassination attempt late Wednesday when a suicide car bomb blew up near his convoy, a government spokesman said.

A policeman was killed and four others were wounded in the attack, believed targeting Allawi's convoy as it approached his residence in Baghdad, said the spokesman.

No group has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

The latest attempt on his life came after new Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said a new government would be announced on Thursday.

Allawi, a former Baathist and then a leading oppositionist against Saddam Hussein, survived numerous assassination bids in his life in exile.

The US-favored caretaker prime minister adopted a hardline policy in cracking down on the insurgency in Iraq in the past year, but was meanwhile criticized sympathizing with former Baathists by some politicians.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2005)