Governor Assassinated In Iraq's Oil-Rich South

Violence Swells Among Region's Shiites

BAGHDAD, Aug. 20 -- The governor of Muthanna province in southern Iraq was killed Monday by a roadside bomb, police said. He was the second provincial governor to be assassinated in 10 days.

Mohammed Ali al-Hassani was traveling from his home in Rumaitha to the provincial capital, Samawah, a few miles to the south, when a bomb exploded next to his nine-car convoy, police said. One of Hassani's bodyguards also was killed.

The assassination appears to be part of a larger pattern of increasing violence between rival Shiite factions in Iraq's oil-rich south, which has few Sunni residents. Like the governor of Qadisiyah province, who was killed by a roadside bomb Aug. 11, Hassani was a member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. That group has been fighting the Mahdi Army, Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia, for control of the region, where the U.S. military has a minimal presence.

Control of Muthanna province was handed from British to Iraqi security forces last year. But continuing violence and political tensions among Shiite groups there present challenges for U.S. commanders seeking to steadily improve security in Iraq as a whole before a key report scheduled to be presented to Congress on Sept. 15.

Top military officials have consistently said that bringing a permanent end to sectarian violence will require political stability. That goal has proved elusive as political parties continue boycotts of the national government and provincial governors become targets of violence.

On Sunday, Iraq's top five government figures wrapped up a week of talks about ways to achieve political reconciliation. According to a statement from Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi's office, the leaders agreed to invite representatives from every political bloc to a series of reconciliation meetings after parliament returns to work Sept. 4.

That timeline leaves a narrow window for the politicians to solve major issues before the Sept. 15 report. The government's work has been crippled by disagreements over a proposed oil law and how to treat former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, as well as a feeling of alienation among many Sunni leaders.

After the talks, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flew to Syria for meetings with government leaders there.

At least a dozen people were killed by bombs in Baghdad on Monday. A car bomb in the Sadr City section of eastern Baghdad killed five and injured 20, while another car bomb near the entrance to the Justice Ministry killed seven people, police said.

A U.S. soldier died Sunday from noncombat causes, and the incident is under investigation, the military announced Monday.

Special correspondent Saad al-Izzi contributed to this report.