Gunmen assassinate Sunni cleric
Gunmen killed a Sunni cleric as he was entering a mosque in Baghdad to perform noon prayers today.
It was the second fatal attack on a cleric belonging to the influential Association of Muslim Scholars in less than 24 hours, the group said.
Sheik Mohammed Jadoa al-Janabi, was killed in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite al-Baya neighbourhood. He was unarmed and had no security guards.
“It was a cleric coming to a mosque,” said one official. “There was no need for a bodyguard.”
Sunni cleric Sheik Hazem al-Zeidi was gunned down last night as he was driving from a mosque in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum. His bodyguards were briefly taken hostage.
Sadr City has a Shiite Muslim majority, but Sunni Muslims have at least 10 mosques in the neighbourhood.
The Association of Muslim Scholars is a conservative group that has worked for the release of foreign hostages. It strongly opposes the US presence in Iraq.
