Gunmen shot dead a top Iraqi official working with the ministry of culture on a highway in central Baghdad on Saturday, security officials told AFP. Kamel Shiya Abdallah, an adviser to the ministry, was in his car when gunmen opened fire on him and his driver at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT) as they sped past, the officials said.
Abdallah, 57, was a well-known critic on cultural issues and was the author of several articles in Iraqi journals.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a car dealership in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding nine, police said. The attack targeted a leader of a group fighting Al-Qaeda in the town of Khalis. The leader of the group, Abdel Karim Ahmed Mindil, was inside the showroom and was killed in the blast along with four others, he said.
