Iraqi governor killed as inter-Shiite competition appears to spread

The murder of the governor of Muthana Province in the Shiite-dominated south of Iraq on Monday has highlighted the growing political tensions between Iraq's competing religious factions. As British forces begin their withdrawal from the increasingly restive south, Shiites may be using violence to better position themselves in coming elections. Amid the infighting, observers worry that the Iraqi government looks "doomed."

The Associated Press reports the governor was murdered on his way to work.

The blast struck the SUV carrying Gov. Mohammed Ali al-Hassani about 9 a.m., shortly after his convoy departed from his home in Rumaitha en route to his office in the provincial capital of Samawah, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad.

On Aug. 11, the governor and police chief of another southern province, Qadasiyah, also were killed in a roadside bombing attack. Gov. Khalil Jalil Hamza and the police chief Maj. Gen. Khalid Hassan were killed as they returned to the provincial capital of Diwaniyah from a funeral for a tribal sheik.

Both governors were members of the influential Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a group led by Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim whose loyalists have been fighting the Mahdi Army militia for control of the oil-rich south as British-led forces gradually withdraw from the area.

The council, formerly known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, has been one of the dominant forces in Iraqi politics since US-sponsored elections. It has a powerful militia of its own. But the Mahdi Army of the young Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has consistently sought to challenge the older and more established group for control of Shiite-dominated areas. Reuters reports that the violence is perhaps being spurred as Shiite political groups with powerful militias position themselves for provincial elections scheduled for next year.

This is part of a settling of scores prior to the elections next year," said a senior Shi'ite official who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject.

"I don't think there will be a Shi'ite bloodbath because a decision has been taken to act with restraint. But more assassinations of some figures are expected," he told Reuters.

He said Hassani had played a "key role" in facing elements which had taken up arms against the government, an apparent reference to rogue elements of the Mehdi Army.

Control of Muthana, a mostly desert province along Iraq's southern border with Saudi Arabia, was handed to the Iraqi government by the British last year. It was viewed by the US and Britain at the time as a sign of improving stability and security there.

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