On 27 June 1993, Al-Attar, her husband, and their housekeeper were killed by a U.S. missile attack on the Iraqi Intelligence main building which was just behind her house, ordered by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

There are some rumours the misfire was intended due to an unflattering mosaic of President George H. W. Bush, possibly designed by Al-Attar, laid onto the floor at the entrance to the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad.

[9] The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the mosaic is signed by two marble cutters, brothers Mohsen and Majid Tabani.

While the Al-Attar character is central in it, the character is written as fictional and does not depict any specific relation to the real Layla Al Attar[12] Kris Kristofferson dedicated and wrote a song about Al-Attar, called "The Circle", which appears on his live album Broken Freedom Song: Live from San Francisco.

In the live introduction to the song on that CD, Kristofferson explains that it covers both the death of Layla Al-Attar and the problem of Los desaparecidos, the Argentines who "disappeared."

A celebration of Kris Kristofferson,[13] adding a verse in Spanish, later, she wrote a song named Layla inspired in her.