Iraq’s PM vows to hunt down killers of al-Sadr bloc MP

BAGHDAD/IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday vowed to hunt down the killers of a lawmaker loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, noting he set up a special investigating committee to probe the assassination operation.   “The Premier ordered setting up a committee headed by the Interior Minister and memberships of army deputy chief of staff’s, the office director of armed forces commander and PM office representative to probe the whereabouts of the terrorist operation that targeted MP Saleh al-Eikili which aimed at destabilize the security achieved by the sacrifice of Iraqi people, “a PM office statement received by IraqiNews.com.   PM al-Maliki sent condolences to the lawmaker’s bloc, pledging “to hunt down the killers and to bring them to justice”.   Earlier, police source said MP al-Eikili loyal to anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was injured Thursday when a bomb struck his convoy in Baghdad.   The explosion hit the convoy carrying al-Eikili as it passed about 200 yards from an Iraqi army checkpoint in a heavily secured area near Baghdad’s main Shiite district of Sadr City according to a one his bloc colleague.   Al-Eikil was taken to a hospital in Baghdad, where he later died of his wounds before doing a brain surgery, according to a medic source.   The MP was a senior member of al-Sadr’s political bloc, which has 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. The Shiite cleric’s cease-fire order to his militia has been a key factor in a sharp decline in violence over the past year.   Sadr City and surrounding areas were long dominated by al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia and where the site of fierce clashes between U.S.-Iraqi forces and Shiite extremists earlier this year. The area has been relatively peaceful after al-Sadr declared his cease-fire and the Iraqi security forces assumed control in late May. AM(S)   1