Iraq: Council official shot dead

The Fallujah city council chairman, a critic of al-Qaida who took the job after his three predecessors were assassinated, was killed today – the latest blow in a violent internal Sunni struggle for control of an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.

Sami Abdul-Amir al-Jumaili was gunned down by attackers in a passing car as he was walking outside his home in central Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, according to police.