Iraq VP's bodyguard gunned down in Baghdad

BAGHDAD - Agence France-Presse

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right) welcomes Iraqi Vice President Khudayr Al Khuzaie upon his arrival for a meeting in Tehran on March 10. AFP photo

A bodyguard of Iraqi Vice President Khudayr al-Khuzaie was gunned down in central Baghdad on Saturday, security and medical officials said.
 
Khuzaie, one of Iraq's two vice presidents, was not in the area when his bodyguard was killed at around midday (0900 GMT) in the main commercial Karrada neighbourhood.
 
"Several gunmen opened fire using silenced pistols against a bodyguard of Khudayr al-Khuzaie in Karrada and killed him," an interior ministry official said.
 
A doctor at Ibn Nafis hospital in central Baghdad confirmed receiving the corpse of the bodyguard, and added that another guard was wounded in the shooting.
 
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity. It was unclear if the shooting was targeted or not.
 
Khuzaie is a Shiite politician while Iraq's other vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, is a Sunni. Hashemi is wanted on charges of running death squads.
 
The latest violence comes after the country suffered a spike in unrest in June -- at least 282 people were killed last month, according to an AFP tally, though government figures said 131 Iraqis died.