17 May 2004

Iraqi council head killed in bomb blast

The president of the Iraqi governing council has been killed in a bomb attack in Baghdad this morning.

Izzadine Saleem and at least three others died this morning when their convoy was hit by a car bomb at a US checkpoint close to the coalition headquarters in the Iraqi capital. A suicide bomber may have been responsible for the killings.

Some reports have indicated that the death toll many be as high as eight. According to the Guardian, a further eight people, including two US soldiers, were injured in the blast.

Mr Saleem's vehicle was part of a convoy containing members of the 25-strong governing council who were waiting to get into the US-controlled compound - the so-called 'green zone'. It is not clear whether any of the other victims were council members.

The council's Foreign Minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, said that today's blast would not derail the official handover of power from the coalition authority to the Iraqi administration on June 30.

The Lib Dems Shadow Foreign Secretary, Sir Menzies Campbell, condemned the murders.

"This is a serious blow to political progress in Iraq, but it must not be allowed to obstruct the handover not only of sovereignty, but of real authority on the 30th June," he said.

"Security will be much more easily achieved if there is clear evidence of a decisive determination to progress the political track as well."

Izzadine Saleem, a Shi'ite Muslim from Basra, is the second, and most senior, council official to be killed by militants since its establishment last July. In September, Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women nominated to the interim council, died after her car was ambushed by gunmen close to her Baghdad home.

(gmcg)