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Aide to Sistani killed

by sources
A representative of Iraq's top Shia Muslim cleric has been assassinated along with four bodyguards and his son.
The attack against Sheikh Mahmoud al-Madaini came after evening prayers on Wednesday in the town of Salman Pak.

He headed the office of Ayatollah Ali Sistani in the Sunni-majority town in the lawless zone south of Baghdad.

It is the latest of a string of attacks launched by mainly-Sunni insurgents to derail national elections scheduled for 30 January.

Sheikh Al-Madaini had already received death threats from opponents of the elections. Ayatollah Sistani is not running for office himself, but he has given his approval to the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of mainly Shia political parties.

Turk kidnapped

In a separate incident, gunmen killed six people and abducted a Turkish businessman in an ambush outside a Baghdad hotel.

Up to 10 gunmen opened fire on a minibus that had come to pick up the businessman - identified as Abdulkadir Tanrikulu - from the Bakhan Hotel.

Police reportedly said the dead were Kurdish employees of Mr Tanrikulu who were travelling in the minibus.

Scores of foreigners have been seized in Iraq since last year. Many have been ransomed, but some have been killed.

In the Sunni city of Ramadi, gunmen stormed a bank and made off with millions of dollars worth of Iraqi dinars, police said.

Ramadi is one of several Iraqi cities dominated by Sunni insurgents fighting US-led forces and Iraq's American-backed government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4170855.stm

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two aides to Iraq's top Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani have been killed in separate attacks apparently aimed at inflaming sectarian conflict among Iraqis already divided on whether Jan. 30 polls should go ahead.

A Sistani representative said on Thursday that gunmen killed cleric Mahmoud al-Madaen along with his son and four bodyguards. Madaen, Sistani's representative in the ancient town of Salman Pak south of Baghdad, was killed on Wednesday.

Another aide, Halim al-Mohaqeq, a cleric working in Sistani's office in Najaf, was also found dead on Wednesday.

"Sheikh Halim was found drowned in his own blood. Investigations are under way," leading Sistani representative Hamed al-Khafaf said.

Iraqi officials say a series of attacks on Shi'ite targets in Iraq show that Sunni Muslim insurgents are mounting a campaign to inflame sectarian distrust, which has already been stoked by divisions over the elections.

Iraq's 60 percent Shi'ite majority, oppressed for decades under Saddam Hussein, strongly supports the elections. A list of mainly Shi'ite candidates drawn up with Sistani's approval is expected to dominate the polls.

Sunni leaders say that if many Sunnis regard the elections as unfair, this will spark more bloodshed and even civil war.

The reclusive Sistani, Iraq's most widely revered religious leader, commands enormous influence in the country. Sistani has appealed for restraint from Shi'ites, saying acts of revenge would destroy the country.

"Do you think that Shi'ite forces cannot storm into southern Baghdad and secure these areas? But we don't want to hand our enemies the civil war they want," a Shi'ite official in the government said.

SHI'ITES UNDER ATTACK

On Dec. 27, a suicide car bomber killed 13 people outside the Baghdad offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a major Shi'ite political party whose leader heads the main list of Shi'ite election candidates.

A week earlier, twin suicide car bombings in the Shi'ite holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala killed nearly 70 people.

Insurgents have also repeatedly targeted Iraqi police and security forces in the run-up to the elections, killing scores since the start of the month.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have conceded that some areas of the country are still too unsafe for voting to take place there.

But Washington insists that the elections should go ahead on time, saying that delaying the vote would be a victory for the insurgents, and that imperfect polls are better than none.

"We want to make sure that there is as broad participation as possible in those elections. I think we all recognize that the election is not going to be perfect," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Wednesday.

Several leading Sunni parties say they are boycotting the vote because the results will be unfairly skewed against the Sunni minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam.

American officials also said on Wednesday that the U.S. force that scoured Iraq for weapons of mass destruction -- cited by President Bush as justification for war -- had abandoned the hunt.

The 1,700-strong Iraq Survey Group, responsible for the hunt, last month wrapped up physical searches and will now gather information to help U.S. forces tackle insurgents.

In renewed violence in Baghdad on Thursday, gunmen seized a Turkish businessmen outside a hotel and killed six Iraqis believed to be his guards, police and witnesses said.

Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past year. Some have been released -- often following the payment of ransoms -- but several have been killed by militant groups. A female French journalist has been missing for a week.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7318261

Two aides to Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have been assassinated, it emerged today.

Mahmoud al-Madaen, Mr Sistani's representative in the town of Salman Pak, was killed yesterday, together with his son and four bodyguards. His death came on the same day as that of another unnamed cleric who was working in Mr Sistani's office in Najaf.

Iraqi officials say a series of attacks on high profile Shia targets show that Sunni Muslim insurgents are mounting a campaign to inflame sectarian conflict ahead of the elections due to take place on January 30.

Iraq's 60% Shia majority, which was oppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime, is in favour of the elections. A list of mainly Shia candidates drawn up with Mr Sistani's approval is expected to dominate the polls.

Several leading Sunni parties are boycotting the vote, saying that the results will be unfairly weighted against them. They argue that the ongoing insurgency in Iraq's Sunni heartland has left preparations far behind schedule and many too afraid to vote. There are fears that an election result not accepted by Sunnis could lead to civil war.

Mr Sistani, who commands enormous influence in the country, has appealed for restraint from Shia Muslims, saying acts of revenge would destroy the country. But Shia targets have consistently found themselves the target of attacks.

On December 27, a suicide car bomber killed 13 people outside the Baghdad offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a major political party whose leader heads the main list of Shia election candidates. A week earlier, twin suicide car bombings in the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala killed nearly 70 people.

Insurgents have also repeatedly targeted Iraqi police and security forces, which are mainly made up of Shia recruits, in the run-up to the elections. US and Iraqi officials have conceded that some areas of the country are still too unsafe for voting to take place.

But Washington and interim prime minister Ayad Allawi both insist the elections should go ahead on time, arguing that a delay to the vote would represent a victory for the insurgents.

"We want to make sure that there is as broad participation as possible in those elections. I think we all recognise that the election is not going to be perfect," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday.

Violence also continued in Baghdad today, when a Turkish businessmen was kidnapped outside a hotel and six Iraqis believed to be his guards were shot dead, according to police and witnesses. In Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, gunmen killed Moayad Sami, the editor-in-chief of a local paper.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1389796,00.html
by more
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two aides to Iraq's top Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani have been killed in separate attacks apparently aimed at inflaming sectarian conflict among Iraqis already divided on whether Jan. 30 polls should go ahead.

A Sistani representative said on Thursday that gunmen killed cleric Mahmoud al-Madaen along with his son and four bodyguards. Madaen, Sistani's representative in the ancient town of Salman Pak south of Baghdad, was killed on Wednesday.

Another aide, Halim al-Mohaqeq, a cleric working in Sistani's office in Najaf, was also found dead on Wednesday.

"Sheikh Halim was found drowned in his own blood. Investigations are under way," leading Sistani representative Hamed al-Khafaf said.

More
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7318261
by Daily Star, Lebanon
Fears for Iraq polls deepen as kidnappings and Assasinations escalate

Two aides to Iraq's top Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani have been killed in separate attacks apparently aimed at inflaming sectarian conflict among Iraqis already divided on whether Jan. 30 polls should go ahead. A Sistani representative said on Thursday that gunmen killed cleric Mahmoud al-Madaen along with his son and four bodyguards.

Madaen, Sistani's representative in the ancient town of Salman Pak south of Baghdad, was killed on Wednesday. Another aide, Halim al-Mohaqeq, a cleric working in Sistani's office in Najaf, was also found dead on Wednesday. "Sheikh Halim was found drowned in his own blood. Investigations are under way," leading Sistani representative Hamed al-Khafaf said.

The reclusive Sistani, Iraq's most widely revered religious leader, has appealed for restraint from Shiites, saying acts of revenge would destroy the country.

"Do you think that Shiite forces cannot storm into southern Baghdad and secure these areas? But we don't want to hand our enemies the civil war they want," a Shiite official in the government said. In renewed violence in Baghdad on Thursday, gunmen seized a Turkish businessman outside the Bakhan Hotel and killed six Iraqis believed to be his guards, police and witnesses said. The Turkish businessman, who reportedly ran a construction company that worked with U.S.-led occupation authorities, was identified by police as Abdulkadir Tanrikulu. He was abducted and six Iraqis on board - the driver and five employees of the businessman - were killed, police Lieutenant Bassam al-Abed said. An unidentified armed group kidnapped an Egyptian oil company manager in Iraq on Thursday, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said. The victim was Sayed Abdel-Khalek, who managed a petroleum derivatives station near the industrial quarter in the northern city of Kirkuk, it said, quoting a security source in the city. Gunmen also kidnapped four young Kurds on Thursday in a separate incident in Kirkuk, some 250 kilometers north of Baghdad, it added. It gave no other details. Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawar weighed in on the U.S. announcement Wednesday that the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has concluded without finding any evidence of the banned weapons that U.S. President George W. Bush cited as justification for going to war against Iraq. Yawar, in Paris for talks with French President Jacques Chirac, said the war still served a purpose. "What has happened has happened," he told reporters, speaking in English. "But the war rid Iraq of a vicious regime which established a dynasty of villains." Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi on Thursday reiterated that the Jan. 30 elections shouldn't be postponed despite some groups' concerns about security.

"One of the ways to end the insurgency is to continue going forward with the political process and ensure that Iraqis participate in the political process, including elections," Allawi said.

In other violence Thursday, gunmen shot to death a member of the Diyala Province's local council in the city of Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad. Mouayad Sami was slain in front of his house, a doctor at the Baqouba General Hospital said. Hours earlier in Baqouba, a roadside bomb exploded as an Iraqi police patrol was passing, killing seven people, including four policemen, and wounding 38 others, police Lieutenant Hussein Jasim said.

Gunmen also killed Iraqi National Guard Captain Hamed Hassan Salman in a market in the western city of Qaim, near the border with Syria, witnesses said. In the capital, U.S. forces searching for those behind the assassination this month of Baghdad's provincial governor raided a mosque and detained two more suspects, the military said Thursday.

Wednesday's raid on Al-Khashab Mosque followed one a day earlier on a house in the city's northern Hurriyah neighborhood in which six suspects were detained. The governor, Ali al-Haidari, was killed on Jan. 4 when gunmen fired on his armored BMW. Residents reported seeing insurgents fleeing inside the mosque after the shooting and said weapons had been stockpiled there, the military said in a statement. In other developments Thursday, Iraq's electoral commission detailed what would be considered crimes during this month's election process, ranging from carrying weapons in or around polling stations, inciting violence and forgeries and bribes. Explosions rocked the area of the Green Zone in Baghdad, but it was not known if any casualties or damage were reported.

http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11825
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