GUNMEN yesterday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics’ group that has called for a boycott of national elections.

Gunmen opened fire on a three vehicle convoy of contractors working for the coalition near Baghdad today, killing some of them, a US military spokesman said.

Gunmen ambushed a team of Spanish intelligence officers, killing seven agents in a bloody new attack on US allies in Iraq. There were also reports that two Japanese diplomats were ambushed and killed.