A top Iraqi Shiite leader was among at least 80 people killed in a car bomb attack on Friday outside the entrance of the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, Iraq, BBC reported. The CNN, however, put the toll at 75.

More than 142 were wounded in the attack that took place at the end of the Friday noon prayers. The dead and the injured have been taken to the Najah Teaching Hospital

Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Hakim lived in exile in Iran for 20 years and returned in May after the US-backed coalition took over Iraq.

Hakim's brother, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, is a member of the US-appointed Iraq Governing Council.

The Imam Ali Mosque is sacred to Shiites around the world. Ali was the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and the first leader of the Shiite community.

Hakim and his entourage were walking toward their vehicles when two cars beside them exploded.

Many considered Hakim as a moderate voice in the Shiite community. A stringent critic of the US presence in Iraq, he had recently called for unity among Shiite groups. "It is in the best interests of everyone for the Americans to leave as quickly as possible," he had said.

He also rejected a secular government saying it would not respect Islam. "As a supreme council we call for an Islamic state because we are Islamic," he had said. But he made it clear that an Islamic state will not 'exclude anyone'.

"We will not accept a government that is imposed on us," he had said recently in Basra.