IRAQ: Insurgents killed two aides to Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in separate attacks apparently aimed at inflaming sectarian violence before elections later this month.
Sheikh Mahmoud Al-Madaini was shot dead along with his son and four bodyguards as he returned home from evening prayers at a mosque in the town of Salman Pak, 12 miles south-east of Baghdad.
Another aide, who was not named, was found dead near Ayatollah al-Sistani's office in Najaf.
Iraq's Shia majority has been the target of a series of attacks by the country's mainly Sunni insurgency ahead of the January 30th poll, which many fear will only heighten tensions between the two communities.
Iraq's Shia population, which makes up 60 per cent of the country, is expected to dominate elections for a new national assembly. In contrast, the mounting insurgency in Iraq's Sunni area has led political leaders to boycott the elections, saying the violence makes it impossible to hold a fair vote.
Sunni leaders say a new government without their participation will only fuel the insurgency currently bent on derailing the election process.
In December a double suicide attack near Shia shrines in Najaf and Karbala killed more than 60 and wounded 130. Election and government officials have also been targeted.
In the face of the attacks, Ayatollah Sistani has appealed for calm and urged Iraqis to vote, one reason his followers may have been targeted.
The cleric is not standing for election, but has given his backing to the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Iraq's largest Shia political parties.