BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – The head of Iraq’s biggest Sunni Muslim parliament bloc was killed at a mosque yesterday, officials said, an assassination which could undermine efforts for sectarian reconciliation in Iraq.
Recently picked as leader of the Accordance Front, Harith al-Ubaidi was seen as a moderate able to make peace among the bloc’s groups and also with Shi’ites, Kurds and others who have struggled for power since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
An independent lawmaker and member of parliament’s human rights committee, he was also seen as a leading defender of the rights of Iraqi prisoners.
His killing comes as parties hold talks to form alliances ahead of parliamentary polls which are due in January and seen as a key test of whether Iraq’s feuding factions can live in peace after the sectarian bloodshed triggered by the war.
Ubaidi was leaving a mosque in west Baghdad after Friday prayers when he was killed.
“He was at a mosque. An armed man shot him with a pistol, then threw a grenade at him inside the al-Shawaf mosque,” said Saleem al-Jubouri, a spokesman for the Accordance Front.
“It could be al Qaeda behind this or another armed group. This shows that the security situation is still fragile and dangerous. The government must provide more security.”
Police said six people were killed in the attack, including the assailant. They said the assassin, believed to be a teenager, shot Ubaidi twice in the head before opening fire on worshippers at the mosque and throwing a grenade. He was then killed by mosque guards.
“Assassinations of political leaders have a huge effect on national peace, and these acts are meant to stoke renewed sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shi’ites, and also within feuding factions among the Sunnis,” said Hazim al-Nuaimi, a political analyst at Baghdad University.
He predicted Ubaidi’s death would cause splits within the Accordance Front, which has over 30 seats in Iraq’s 275 member parliament. Although small compared to Shi’ite and Kurdish blocs, the Accordance Front did well in this year’s local polls.
