Akila al-Hashimi, a woman member of Iraq's Governing Council, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt last week succumbed to her injuries on Friday

The US-led Coalition Provisional Authority said she died at 11:30 am.

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.

She was preparing to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which opened in New York on Tuesday.

Al-Hashimi was admitted to a US military hospital in the compound at Saddam Hussein's former Republican Palace in central Baghdad.

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 the Saddam regime, ousted by US-led forces in April.