By Xinhua,
Mosul, Iraq : Unknown gunmen shot dead the head of city council of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, on Wednesday, a provincial police source said.
“Khalid Mahmoud and his driver were gunned down by armed men in front of Mahmoud’s house in the al-Baladiyat neighborhood in northern of the city,” the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attack occurred in the morning when Mahmoud was leaving home to his work, the source said.
The volatile city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, was the scene of a suicide car bombing late on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car near a police station in the city center, killing two people and wounding more than 70 others.
The incidents occurred as the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces are conducting a security crackdown against insurgent groups in Nineveh province which said to be one of the last strongholds of al-Qaida fighters in the war-torn country.