Striking another blow against the Iraqi interim government ahead of planned Jan. 30 elections, gunmen have assassinated the governor of Baghdad province.
Governor Ali al-Haidari was in a three-vehicle convoy driving through the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Hurriyah when gunmen opened fire.
The armoured vehicles were riddled with bullets, leaving al-Haidiri and six of his bodyguards dead.
A man identified as the chief of al-Haidiri's security detail described the crossfire to The Associated Press.
"Our convoy was moving in Hurriyah and they came from different directions and opened fire at us," Maj. Mazen said.
Al-Haidiri, who survived an attempt on his life last year, is the highest-ranking Iraqi official killed since former Governing Council president Abdel-Zahraa Othman was assassinated in May.
But it was not the only violence to shake the capital on Tuesday.
Iraq's Interior Ministry reported an explosive-laden tanker truck exploded near one of its commando headquarters, just outside the so-called Green Zone in west Baghdad.
Officials said a suicide driver rammed an Iraqi police checkpoint before the blast, killing eight Iraqi commandos and two civilians. Approximately 60 others were wounded.
Reuters reports that, in statements posted online, a group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for both attacks.
"A group of mujahideen of the Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq assassinated a tyrant and American agent, the governor of Baghdad Ali al-Haidri," one statement said.
At least 16 people died Monday, in four separate attacks targeting Iraqi troops, a U.S. security company convoy and the prime minister's party headquarters in Baghdad.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, surveying the damage in Phuket, Thailand, said the latest attacks will not derail Iraq's plans to hold elections at the end of the month.
"It once again shows that there are these murderers and terrorists, former regime elements in Iraq, who don't want to see elections. They don't want the people of Iraq to choose new leaders. They want to go back to the past.
They want to go back to the tyranny of Saddam Hussein's regime and that's not going to happen," Powell told reporters.
The steady pounding of militant attacks are taking their toll on a growing number in Iraqi political circles, however.
Sunni Arab clerics have called for a boycott of the vote and largest Sunni political party has announced it is pulling out due to poor security.
There have also been a number of suggestions floated by members of Iraq's interim government that would rather see the vote postponed than undermined by questions of its legitimacy.
Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations has even suggested, in a Washington Post opinion piece published last week, that the election could be delayed.
"Such a solution would have the merit of satisfying all those who want elections as soon as possible, thus denying terrorists a victory while producing a legitimate elected government that could focus on stabilizing the country," he wrote, proposing that a number of seats could be left vacant for much-later votes in the Sunni provinces.
But in comments earlier this week, Iraq Independent Electoral Commission spokesperson Fareed Ayar said he had yet to receive one formal proposal.
"The commission is still working on holding the elections on its scheduled time and according to the timetable we have," Ayar said.
With files from The Associated Press
