Two Sunni clerics killed in Iraq

9/20/2004 3:06:00 PM GMT

Two prominent clerics belonging to an influential Sunni Muslim group were killed in Baghdad.

Muslim Scholars' Association member Sheikh Hazem Zeidi was shot dead at a Sunni mosque in Al Sadr City on Sunday night.

Also Sheikh Muhammad Jadu was reportedly shot dead as he entered Kawthar mosque in al-Baya neighbourhood before noon prayers on Monday.

Sheikh Muhammad was unarmed and had no security guards at the time of the attack.

"It was a cleric coming to a mosque," said one official who demanded anonymity. "There was no need for a bodyguard."

Late Sunday, gunmen attacked the car of Sheikh Hazem Zeidi, another cleric from the association while he was leaving a mosque in Al Sadr City.

The cleric, Sheikh Hazem al-Zeidi, was killed and two of his bodyguards were taken hostage, said Sheikh Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabbar, a senior member of the association. The two bodyguards were freed Monday.

"After performing the night prayers at al-Sajjad Mosque, in Sadr City, [Sheikh Hazem] left in his car with two bodyguards," the association spokesmen said.

"A group of masked gunmen followed him in a private car and opened fire."

According to the Muslim Scholar’s association, Sheikh Zeidi's role was co-coordinating among Sunni clerics and other Muslim groups in Iraq.

Also he was the Imam, or prayer leader, at one of the 10 Sunni mosques located in the Sadr City.

"We hope it is not an organised campaign to assassinate the association's clerics," a source in the Muslim Scholars' Association was quoted as saying.