A group led by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it had assassinated Baghdad governor Ali al-Haidri today and staged a suicide bombing which killed 11 people, according to Internet statements.
The attacks were the latest in an escalating campaign by Sunni insurgents trying to force out US-led forces, cripple the American-backed interim government and scare away voters away from a January 30 election.
"A group of mujahideen of the Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq assassinated a tyrant and American agent, the governor of Baghdad Ali al-Haidri," said one of the statements, which was posted on an Islamist site.
The second statement, also on the same site, said a "lion from the martyrs' brigade" of the group had attacked a security headquarters in Baghdad.
"We warn every traitor and ally of the Jews and the Christians that this will be your fate," the statement added.
Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for some of the bloodiest suicide bombings and attacks in Iraq.
Haidri, whose killing was the highest-profile assassination in eight months, had survived a previous attempt on his life in September.
His assassination came hours after a bomber rammed a fuel truck into a roadblock near Baghdad's Green Zone, home to the Iraqi government and the US and British embassies, killing eight police commandos and three civilians. Sixty people were also wounded.