A roadside bomb killed the governor of southern Muthanna Province yesterday, police said, the second assassination of a top provincial official in just over a week.
A bomb on a motorcycle also exploded in a busy market district in central Baghdad, killing at least three people and wounding 11, a police official said in the capital.
The violence came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived in Syria for his first visit to Damascus since he took office in May last year.
The blast struck the SUV carrying Governor Mohammed Ali al-Hassani at approximately 9am, shortly after his convoy departed from his home in Rumaitha en route to his office in the provincial capital of Samawah, about 370km southeast of Baghdad.
Al-Hassani, his driver and a guard were killed, while his office manager and two other guards were seriously wounded, police said.
A curfew was immediately imposed on Samawah and new checkpoints were erected.
On Aug. 11, the governor and police chief of another southern province, Qadasiyah, were also killed in a roadside bombing attack. Governor Khalil Jalil Hamza and police chief Major General Khalid Hassan were killed as they returned to the provincial capital of Diwaniyah from a funeral for a tribal sheik.
Both governors were members of the influential Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), a group led by Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim whose loyalists have been fighting the Mehdi Army militia for control of the oil-rich south as British-led forces gradually withdraw from the area.
Al-Hassani, 52, is 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.
Police quickly laid the blame on the Mehdi Army, which is nominally loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and has been involved in several recent clashes with its rivals.
"There was nothing against the governor inside the province except the confrontations between the Mehdi Army and the SIIC, which have claimed the lives of dozens of people," an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution.
Meanwhile, Sadr said yesterday he would welcome a planned expansion of the UN mission in Iraq if it was designed to help Iraqis rebuild their country.
In an interview in Britain's daily Independent newspaper, Sadr stressed the UN must not become "just another face of the American occupation" in Iraq.
"I would support the UN here in Iraq if it comes and replaces the American and British occupiers," he said. "If the UN comes here to truly help the Iraqi people, they will receive our help in their work."
The UN Security Council decided earlier this month to widen the UN's mandate in Iraq, implying an increase in staff for the first time since the world body effectively withdrew from the country after a bomb blast at its Baghdad headquarters killed 22 people four years ago.
The Security Council resolution calls on the UN to take on the challenge of promoting national reconciliation and dialogue between Iraq and its neighbors.
Sadr also said in the interview that British troops had been defeated in Iraq and forced by resistance fighters into a retreat from the south of the country.
Mehdi Army fighters played an "important role" in driving the British out, he said.
"The British have given up and know they will be leaving Iraq soon," he said in the interview. "They are retreating because of the resistance they have faced. Without that they would have stayed for much longer, there is no doubt."
The British-patrolled south of Iraq has become significantly more dangerous for foreign troops since London announced in February that it would reduce troop numbers during this year.
Forty-one British troops have died in Iraq this year, on track to exceed the 53 killed in 2003 when Britain joined US forces in the Iraq invasion.
"The British have realized this is a war they should not be fighting or one they cannot win," Sadr said.
The cleric's words echoed comments by British commanders, who say Shiite militants are stepping up attacks to give the impression that the are driving the British out.
Also see story:
France's Kouchner begins Iraq visit, al-Maliki in Syria
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique