A second Sunni cleric killed in less than 24 hours

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A Sunni cleric was killed today, the second in the last 24 hours. Sheikh Ghaleb al-Zuheir was a member of the Muslim Clerics Association, a Sunni group which has called for a boycott of January's Iraqi election and aims to speak for the once dominant Sunni minority.

Al-Zuheir was shot dead as he was leaving home to go the Thiyaba Mosque on the outskirts of the Miqdadiya, a city located 100 km (60 miles) north-east of Baghdad near Baquba, one of the most active insurgent strongholds in the so-called Sunni triangle.

Sheikh Feydhi Mohammed al-Feydhi, brother of the Muslim Clerics Association's official spokesman was assassinated on Tuesday in Mosul.

There are concerns that the two murders might be related.

The association was set up last year after the fall of Saddam's regime with the blessing of US authorities in Iraq.

It claims that its members are targeted by U.S. and Iraqi security forces and by insurgents trying to fuel sectarian unrest. (FP)