The head of the largest Sunni Muslim bloc in Iraq’s parliament was killed at a mosque yesterday, officials said – an assassination which could undermine efforts for sectarian reconciliation in the country.
The leader of the Accordance Front, Harith al-Ubaidi was seen as a moderate, able to broker peace among the bloc’s groups and with Shias, Kurds and others.
An independent lawmaker and member of the parliament’s human rights committee, Ubaidi was seen as a leading defender of the rights of Iraqi prisoners. His killing comes as parties hold talks to form alliances ahead of a parliamentary poll due in January that is seen as a test of whether Iraq’s feuding factions can live in peace.
The leader of Iraq’s Shia-led government, prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, ordered an investigation and condemned the killing, as did other leaders of Iraq’s Shia majority. “This cowardly, repulsive murder is a failed attempt to plant sectarian strife and to strengthen the presence of the terrorist groups that have received fatal blows from our security forces,” he said in a statement.
Ubaidi was leaving a mosque in west Baghdad after Friday prayers when he was killed. A spokesman for the Accordance Front said:“It could be al-Qaeda behind this, or another armed group,” and called for tighter security.
Police said six people died in the attack, including the assailant. They said the assassin, believed to be a teenager, shot Ubaidi twice, opened fire on worshippers and threw a grenade. He was then killed by mosque guards.
Hazim al-Nuaimi, a political analyst at Baghdad University, predicted Ubaidi’s death would cause splits in the Accordance Front, but Hashim al-Taie, a member of the bloc, dismissed this. Sunni Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda regard moderate Sunni politicians as traitors, and have called for them to be killed.