Aides to Iraqi Shia Leader Killed

Two aides to Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have been assassinated, it emerged today.

Mahmoud al-Madaen, Mr Sistani's representative in the town of Salman Pak, was killed yesterday, together with his son and four bodyguards. His death came on the same day as that of another unnamed cleric who was working in Mr Sistani's office in Najaf.

Iraqi officials say a series of attacks on high profile Shia targets show that Sunni Muslim insurgents are mounting a campaign to inflame sectarian conflict ahead of the elections due to take place on January 30.

Iraq's 60% Shia majority, which was oppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime, is in favour of the elections. A list of mainly Shia candidates drawn up with Mr Sistani's approval is expected to dominate the polls.

Several leading Sunni parties are boycotting the vote, saying that the results will be unfairly weighted against them. They argue that the ongoing insurgency in Iraq's Sunni heartland has left preparations far behind schedule and many too afraid to vote. There are fears that an election result not accepted by Sunnis could lead to civil war.

Mr Sistani, who commands enormous influence in the country, has appealed for restraint from Shia Muslims, saying acts of revenge would destroy the country. But Shia targets have consistently found themselves the target of attacks.

On December 27, a suicide car bomber killed 13 people outside the Baghdad offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a major political party whose leader heads the main list of Shia election candidates. A week earlier, twin suicide car bombings in the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala killed nearly 70 people.

Insurgents have also repeatedly targeted Iraqi police and security forces, which are mainly made up of Shia recruits, in the run-up to the elections. US and Iraqi officials have conceded that some areas of the country are still too unsafe for voting to take place.

But Washington and interim prime minister Ayad Allawi both insist the elections should go ahead on time, arguing that a delay to the vote would represent a victory for the insurgents.

"We want to make sure that there is as broad participation as possible in those elections. I think we all recognise that the election is not going to be perfect," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday.

Violence also continued in Baghdad today, when a Turkish businessmen was kidnapped outside a hotel and six Iraqis believed to be his guards were shot dead, according to police and witnesses. In Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, gunmen killed Moayad Sami, the editor-in-chief of a local paper.