Slaying of top Shiite may stoke ethnic tension

updated 3:25 p.m. ET June 28, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber killed an influential Shiite member of parliament and his son as they drove from their farm to the capital Tuesday, an attack likely to stoke ethnic tensions on the first anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis.

The attack that killed Dhari Ali al-Fayadh, his son and two bodyguards was one of several around the country carried out by suicide bombers.

Another killed a U.S. soldier in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. At least 1,742 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

A car bomb north of Baghdad killed five people and injured nine others, police said. The explosion occurred about 15 yards from the headquarters of an Iraqi quick-reaction police force in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital, police Capt. Nihad Jamal Ibrahim said.

Two other car bombs in Baqouba caused no injuries, police said.

Near Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad, a bomber wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up at a checkpoint, killing one policeman and wounding 17, police said.

In Kirkuk, a suicide car bomber slammed into a convoy carrying traffic police chief Brig. Gen. Salar Ahmed, killing one of his bodyguards and a civilian, said police Lt. Assad Mohammed. Four others, including Ahmed and three of his bodyguards, were wounded in the city 180 miles north of Baghdad.

‘Operation Sword’
The attacks came as more than 1,000 U.S. troops and Iraqi forces launched “Operation Sword” in a bid to crush insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq — the third major offensive in the area in recent weeks. A U.S. reconnaissance helicopter was hit Monday night by small-arms fire in Tal Afar, about 95 miles east of the Syrian border, and forced to land, but there were no reports of injuries, said Sgt. John Franzen, a spokesman.

The military campaigns have not been able to capsize a resilient insurgency that has killed more than 1,350 people — mostly civilians and Iraqi security forces — since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-dominated government on April 28.

Al-Fayadh, who was in his late 80s, was killed while traveling to parliament from his farm in Rashidiya, 20 miles northeast of Baghdad, said parliamentarian Hummam Hammoudi, who heads a committee charged with drafting a new constitution.

The blast also wounded four people, police Maj. Falah al-Mihamadawi said.

Sam Dagher / AFP - Getty Images file Dhari Ali al-Fayadh, right, and his son Hassan pose for a picture on March 31.

The group al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the assassination on an Islamic Web site, saying a “suicide car bomber, in a heroic attack, exploded himself at the motorcade of the assembly member, his guards and his companions.” The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

Al-Fayadh was the eldest member of the new parliament, and he was the interim speaker until one was elected. He was a member of the country’s largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Al-Fayadh also was a senior sheik from the al-Boamer tribe in the Mahmoudiya area, about 20 miles south of Baghdad and a hotbed of the Sunni-dominated insurgency. Al-Boamer includes both Sunni and Shiite clans.

FREE VIDEO Marines crack down on insurgents June 28: NBC's Richard Engel reports from Iraq as he travels with one of the Marine units involved in the latest offensive against insurgents. Nightly News

“Those who killed the sheik are the enemies of the Iraqi people at large,” Hammoudi said.

Al-Fayadh was the second Shiite legislator to be killed since the parliament started work in March. Lamia Abed Khadouri al-Sagri, a member of the Iraqi List party, was killed April 27 in eastern Baghdad.

Al-Fayadh’s seat will be taken by the runner-up from the same party.

The country’s Shiites already are on edge following a series of car bombings last week that killed nearly 40 people in predominantly Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad. With the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency targeting the Shiite majority, the wave of killings has raised fears of civil war.

MORE FROM CONFLICT IN IRAQ

Conflict in Iraq Section Front

Iraqi parliament passes key election law Half of Iraqis killed in October died in one attack   US military: 2 American pilots die in Iraq Kirkuk focus of Iraq election law deadlock Police: Bicycle bomb kills 5 in southern Iraq Iraqi election delay may stall U.S. troop pullout Conflict in Iraq Section Front   Add Conflict in Iraq headlines to your news reader: