Unidentified armed men have killed a Muslim cleric outside a mosque in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. "Militants on Wednesday killed Sheikh Ghazi Juburi in a shooting outside al-Rahman mosque in the Sunni dominated neighborhood of al-Adhamiya in the northern part of Baghdad. The clergyman had finished the morning prayers," a local police source told Voices of Iraq news agency.
The source added, "Sheikh Juburi was rushed to a nearby hospital after the attack. However, he succumbed to his injuries."
The assailants escaped the scene in a vehicle and their whereabouts are unknown.
Security forces cordoned off the area after the attack and launched an investigation into the possible motive behind the attack.
Also on Wednesday, a senior counter-terrorism police official lost his life at a powerful explosion in western Baghdad.
Brigadier General Arkan Ali Mohammad was killed when a sticky bomb attached to his car went off in al-Nisoor Square of the Iraqi capital.
Four bystanders, a traffic officers and an official with the Iraqi Interior Ministry were also wounded in the blast.