Roadside bomb kills Iraqi governor

BAGHDAD (AP) - A roadside bomb killed the governor of the southern Muthanna province on Monday, police said, the second assassination of a top provincial official in just over a week.

The blast struck the convoy carrying Mohammed Ali al-Hassani at about 9 a.m., killing him and three other people, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

Al-Hassani's office manager and two guards also were seriously wounded, police said.

On Aug. 11, the governor and police chief of another southern province, Qadasiyah, also were killed in a roadside bombing attack.

Both governors were members of the influential Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a group led by Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim whose loyalists have been fighting the Mahdi Army militia for control of the oil-rich south.

Muthanna was the first province that was transferred to Iraqi control last year.

Al-Hassani, 52, was from a prominent clan in the area and had been governor for about two years despite several attempts by rivals in the provincial council to sack him.

(This version CORRECTS UPDATES throughout with police saying three more people killed in attack; corrects byline.)