Unknown gunmen assassinated a senior member of Iraq's Umma party Saturday in Hilla, in the latest of a series of attacks targeting politicians in the city, security sources said.
They told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Mohammed Mahdi, a member of the moderate Sunni party led by Mithal al-Alousy, was shot by unknown gunmen at his home in the city's al-Qassem district.
Mahdi had been an unsuccessful candidate for his area in the recent provincial elections.
An independent candidate in the city had already escaped an assassination attempt when unknown gunmen opened fire on his home on January 26.
That assassination attempt came a week after gunmen killed Haitham al-Lihaibi, a candidate of Prime Minister Nur al-Maliki's list for the Babil Provincial Council.
Hilla, capital of Babil, is 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.