Iraqi Governor And Police Chief Dies In Suicide Bomb Attack

December 9, 2007 8:24 a.m. EST

Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - The governor and a police chief in Shiite province south of the capital city of Baghdad and two bodyguards were killed when a roadside bomb exploded hitting their convoy Sunday, police said.

Sunday's attack was the latest in a series of violent assassinations of high-ranking government officers after the withdrawal of the United States -led coalition in the Shiite region where rebels and other anti-government militants battle for the control of the area.

According to BBC news the governor, who was a "key figure" in the military wing of the largest Shia party, was returning home from a funeral when he was killed.

According to the Associated Press, a local official who did not divulge his identity said that the attack happened in Babil, capital of Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad, capital of Iraq, which claimed the lives of Brig. Gen. Qais al-Maamouri and his two bodyguards.

The police declared an indefinite curfew and the streets quickly emptied amid fears of arrests and clashes in the wake of the killings.

Just this summer, two southern provincial governors were also killed, Gov. Mohammed Ali-al-Hassani of Muthanna and from neighboring Qadasiyah province and al-Hassani's colleague, Gov. Khalil Jalil Hamza.