Iraq governor killed in bomb attack

A roadside bomb killed the governor of Muthanna province in southern Iraq today, police said.

It was the second assassination of a top provincial official in just over a week.

The blast struck the convoy carrying Mohammed Ali al-Hassani at about 9am, killing him and three other people, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information.

Mr Al-Hassani’s office manager and two guards were seriously wounded, police said.

On August 11, the governor and police chief of another southern province, Qadasiyah, also were killed in a roadside bomb attack.

Both governors were members of the influential Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a group led by Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, whose loyalists have been fighting the Mahdi Army militia for control of the oil-rich south.

Muthanna was the first province which was transferred to Iraqi control last year.

Mr Al-Hassani, 52, was from a prominent clan in the area and had been governor for about two years despite several attempts by rivals in the provincial council to sack him.