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Prominent Sunni politician shot dead in Iraq | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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RAMADI, Iraq, (Reuters) – A leading Sunni Muslim Arab politician was shot dead in Iraq on Tuesday just two days before the nation votes for a new parliament.

Mizhar al-Dulaimi, head of the Free Progressive Iraqi Party, was killed while campaigning in the centre of Ramadi, capital of the restive Anbar province in western Iraq, police said. Three of his bodyguards were wounded.

A well-known Sunni Arab, Dulaimi had appeared on television the previous night, urging Iraqis to vote.

Many Sunni Arabs are standing in Thursday”s poll after largely boycotting the Jan. 30 election for an interim assembly.

Al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups on Monday described the election as ungodly and said they would continue their jihad until they had turned Iraq into an Islamic state.

But their statement was more muted in tone that those issued by insurgent groups in January and did not directly threaten voters or candidates.