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German official retracts assassination report

By the CNN Wire Staff
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Vice President Omar Suleiman has been working to initiate government transition.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • German diplomat said the report was based on an unsubstantiated source
  • Suleiman has been leading transition efforts
  • The VP has long been a powerful behind-the-scenes player
RELATED TOPICS
  • Egypt
  • Political Policy

Munich, Germany (CNN) -- The German diplomat who said there was an assassination attempt against Egypt's new vice president has retracted his comments.

"I was led to believe that we had a confirmed report but in fact we didn't," Wolfgang Ischinger told CNN, adding the information he received was based on an unsubstantiated source.

Ischinger, the host of the Munich Security Conference, told a plenary session of the meeting that there was an assassination attempt against Omar Suleiman and several people were killed.

At the time, he didn't provide any more detail about the incident.

The vice president, appointed last week amid widespread cries for President Hosni Mubarak's ouster, has been working to initiate a government transition.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is attending the conference, said it's important to support the Suleiman-led transition process.

Suleiman had been an intelligence chief and a powerful behind-the-scenes player for a long time, and his appointment was seen widely as an attempt by Mubarak to restore order.

CNN's Elise Labott contributed to this report.

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