Lieutenant Colonel Nawzad Abdulqader al-Talabani`s murder in the flashpoint city of Kirkuk was the latest in a spate of killings targeting senior military and civilian officials, with just months to go before US forces withdraw from Iraq completely.
Talabani was a Kurdish security force officer who was part of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani`s private office in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan`s second biggest city. The officer was a member of the president`s tribe.
Gunmen driving a blue Toyota Corolla drove up to a construction site that Talabani was visiting in south Kirkuk, got out of the vehicle and shot him dead before fleeing the scene, Kirkuk city police chief Brigadier General Adil Zain al-Abidine said.
Abidine added that the two attackers had threatened to kill all of the workers at the construction site, as well as Talabani`s lone bodyguard, if they tried to help the security officer before killing him.
Ali Mohsen, a doctor at the city`s morgue, said Talabani was shot in the head and neck.
Kirkuk is at the centre of a tract of disputed territory claimed by both the central government and Kurdish regional authorities.
US officials have persistently said the unresolved row is one of the biggest threats to Iraq`s future stability.
Talabani`s murder brings to at least eight the number of senior military and civilian officials who have been killed in the past two weeks in Iraq, while three others have narrowly escaped death.
While attacks have declined dramatically across Iraq since their peak in 2006 and 2007, violence remains common.
Figures compiled by the ministries of health, interior and defence and released on Sunday showed that a total of 211 Iraqis -- 120 civilians, 56 policemen and 35 soldiers -- died as a result of attacks in April.
Sunday`s figures were around 15 percent lower than the monthly toll for March, when 247 Iraqis were killed.
A further 377 people were wounded last month: 190 civilians, 97 policemen and 90 soldiers. The figures also showed that 49 insurgents were killed and 199 arrested in April.
The toll was released one day after the US military confirmed a soldier was killed in southern Iraq, the 11th death in April, making it the deadliest month for US forces since November 2009, according to an AFP tally based on data compiled by independent website www.icasualties.org.
Around 45,000 US soldiers remain stationed in Iraq. While they are primarily charged with training and equipping their local counterparts, they can return fire in self-defence and still take part in joint counter-terror operations with Iraqi forces.
They must all withdraw from Iraq by the end of the year, according to the terms of a bilateral security pact. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
