Top Sunni lawmaker slain in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — The moderate leader of the largest Sunni bloc in parliament was assassinated Friday after delivering a sermon at a Baghdad mosque, a killing that could set back efforts to reconcile differences between the two Muslim sects before national elections.

Harith al-Obeidi, 47, was an outspoken advocate for prisoners’ rights, one of the most divisive issues in relations between the disaffected Sunni minority and the Shiite-led government.

He was killed a day after colleagues said he called on parliament to summon interior and defense ministry officials to answer allegations of torture in Iraqi jails. Although most detainees are Sunni, al-Obeidi promoted human rights for all Iraqis, even followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Politicians traded theories and accusations over a possible motive for the killing — ranging from retaliation for his campaign for detainees, to punishment by Sunni extremists for his joint efforts with Shiite groups to achieve national reconciliation.

The brazen daylight shooting in a heavily guarded area raised fresh concerns about the ability of Iraqi forces to maintain security with U.S. forces withdrawing from cities by the end of the month. The attack took place in a western Baghdad neighborhood that was once a Sunni insurgent stronghold until local tribal leaders turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.

The gunman shot and killed al-Obeidi and a bodyguard in the mosque courtyard at about 1:30 p.m., then was killed himself after detonating a grenade as he tried to flee, according to Iraqi officials.

“While we were leaving the mosque we heard a gunshot fired, followed by an explosion,” said Majid Hameed, a 50-year-old worshipper wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel. “I blame the security forces for allowing gunmen to enter the neighborhood even though all entrances are blocked by checkpoints.”

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who warned a day earlier that violence was likely to increase ahead of the U.S. withdrawal and the Jan. 30 national elections, ordered an investigation.

“This cowardly crime is a futile attempt to incite sectarian rifts among the Iraqi people and to prove that terrorist organizations are still there after these organizations have received hard punches by our armed forces,” he said in a statement read on Iraqi state TV.

The shooting followed a spate of deadly bombings that U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned are part of an campaign by Sunni insurgents or former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to re-ignite sectarian bloodshed and undermine confidence in the government.

Sunni lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar said al-Obeidi may have drawn ire for his high-profile role in promoting human rights for all Iraqis and the proper treatment of detainees.

Abdul-Sattar linked the assassination with Wednesday’s car bombing that killed at least 35 people near the mainly Shiite city of Nasiriyah.

“Both incidents have a clear message of trying to heat up the atmosphere ahead of the U.S. withdrawal,” he said.

Fellow lawmaker Salim Abdullah, a spokesman for the bloc which al-Obeidi led in parliament, suggested al-Qaida in Iraq may have played a role in the killing.

Colleagues noted that al-Obeidi visited both Sunni and Shiite prisoners and was passionate in calling for their fair treatment.

Ahmed al-Masoudi, a lawmaker loyal to al-Sadr, said al-Obeidi angrily denounced prisoner abuse during Thursday’s parliamentary session.

“What happened to Dr. Harith al-Obeidi might have a connection to what is going on inside the Iraqi detention centers, including brutal torture and rape,” he said.

Al-Obeidi complained about the abuses in his final sermon on Friday, saying “nobody dares to tell the ruler that such imprisonment is wrong.”

What happened immediately after the attack was a matter of dispute.

Guards at the scene said the assailant was chased a few hundred yards down the street, then detonated a grenade, killing himself and an undetermined number of pursuers.

But police said guards killed the attacker after he threw the grenade during a shootout. They said at least four other people, including a worshipper, were killed.

Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the attacker was found with a card identifying him as a 25-year-old named Ahmed Jassim Ibrahim from the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Mansour.

But authorities believed the attacker was younger and that the ID card was fake, al-Moussawi told The Associated Press.

Al-Obeidi took the helm of the Iraqi Accordance Front — which holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament — in May after his predecessor Ayad al-Samarraie became the parliamentary speaker. His death leaves a power vacuum in the three-party bloc at a crucial time as politicians and parties are jockeying for power ahead of next January’s elections.

Persistent violence has raised concerns about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security as U.S. forces start to withdraw.

A U.S. commander in the northern city of Mosul announced that Iraqi police arrested two of their own in connection with an ambush of an American platoon at a police station on Feb. 24. An American soldier and an interpreter were killed and five others were wounded in the attack.

The suspects, believed to be a police officer and a sergeant, were arrested during a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid early Monday and are in the custody of Iraqi police, according to Army Col. Gary Volesky, who commands U.S. troops in northern Iraq’s Ninevah province.

———

Associated Press Writers Chelsea J. Carter in Mosul and Mazin Yahya in Baghdad contributed to this report.