![Iraqi activist and novelist, Alaa Mashthob - [Facebook]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B0%D9%88%D8%A8.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1)
Unknown gunmen have assassinated Iraqi activist and novelist, Alaa Mashthob, in the southern city of Karbala.
Local media reported that 51-year-old Mashthob was shot 13 times outside his home in Bab Al Khan in Karbala city.
Senior officer in the Middle Euphrates Operations Command, Safa Kamel, told the Anadolu Agency on Saturday that Alaa was assassinated after criticising the authorities controlled by the Iranian-backed Shia majority.
Activists pointed out that Mashthob has recently criticised leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini.
Late Saturday night, police in Karbala issued a statement vowing to uncover the circumstances surrounding Alaa’s assassination and arrest the perpetrators.
READ: Rights group calls on UN to save thousands of civilian abductees in Iraq