Iraqi and US forces killed a top official of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's organisation in a raid on his home north of Baghdad yesterday, it has emerged.
An official in Sadr's political office called the killing of Khadhim al-Hamadani an "assassination".
The US military said Hamadani had been responsible for attacks on US and Iraqi troops and was believed to have "facilitated and directed numerous kidnappings, assassinations and other violence".
It said two Iraqi soldiers shot him dead after storming a building and finding him armed with an assault rifle.
Iraqi police said Hamadani had been the leader of Sadr's political office in Diyala province. In their report on the incident, they said he was shot when he tried to flee.
But the Sadr official said Hamadani - a senior official in Mehdi Army militia - had been stabbed with a bayonet in the village of Huweidar near Baquba.