Senior Iraqi slain as seven bodies found

INSURGENTS gunned down a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official yesterday and the bodies of seven men shot in the head were found dumped west of Baghdad.

This was part of an escalation in violence that a senior US military official attributed to an order from terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The spiralling violence has killed nearly 500 people since the April 28 announcement of the new Shi’ite-dominated government. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari recently pledged to use an iron fist to prevent an outbreak of sectarian violence - which al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaida in Iraq group have tried to foment.