Bomb kills Iraq province governor

A roadside bomb today killed the governor of the southern Muthanna province in Iraq, police said, the second assassination of a top provincial official in just over a week.

The blast struck the convoy carrying Mohammed Ali al-Hassani at about 9 a.m., killing him and three other people, a police officer said. Al-Hassani's office manager and two guards also were seriously wounded, police said.

On 11 August, the governor and police chief of another southern province, Qadasiyah, also were killed in a roadside bombing attack.

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.

Muthanna was the first province that was transferred to Iraqi control last year.