Iraqi vice president's brother killed in Baghdad home

Gen. Amir al-Hashimi, brother of VP Tariq al-Hashimi and an adviser in the Defense Ministry, killed by unidentified gunmen.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
baghdad bodies 88.298ap (photo credit: AP)
baghdad bodies 88.298ap
(photo credit: AP)
The brother of Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president was killed early Monday in his Baghdad home, a government spokesman said. Gen. Amir al-Hashimi, brother of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and an adviser in the Defense Ministry, was killed by unidentified gunmen wearing military uniforms in his home in north Baghdad, Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi said. Further details were not immediately available. Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber slammed into an Iraqi police checkpoint in Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding 12, police Brig. Najim Abdullah said. The city was already the scene of a devastating attack on Saturday when a suicide car bomber hit another checkpoint, killing 14 and injuring many more. Sectarian death squads have killed thousands in recent months, primarily in the capital, and U.S. and Iraqi troops have been carrying out an intensified sweep of the capital to try and root out the insurgents and militias. At the same time, shootings, bombings and other attacks has been swelling in northern areas, though the bloodshed has not been on the scale seen in Baghdad.