Sunni imam assassinated west of the Iraqi capital

An unknown gunman has shot and killed the imam of a Sunni mosque in the west of Baghdad, sources in Iraq have revealed. The gunmen escaped to an unknown location.

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“The police received a report late last night of the killing of Shaikh Abdul Salam Al-Hadithi, the imam and preacher of the Al-Ikhwa Al-Saliheen Mosque in Amiriyah, west of Baghdad,” Police Captain Nazhan Al-Khader told Anadolu news agency. “According to the initial investigations, a gunman riding a motorcycle attacked Al-Hadithi near his home using a gun fitted with a silencer.” Three bullets were fired into the victim’s head before the killer fled.

Iraqis fear the return of such assassinations in Baghdad, after years of turning the page on sectarian violence, which left thousands of civilians dead in both the Sunni and Shia communities between 2006 and 2007.