Tuesday, January 4 2005 19:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Gunmen assassinated the Governor of Baghdad province and six of his bodyguards today (Jan 4, 2005) and a suicide tanker truck bomber killed 10 people at an Interior Ministry commando headquarters in western Baghdad, the latest in a steady drumbeat of insurgent violence ahead of January 30 elections.

Governor Ali al-Haidari's three-vehicle convoy was passing through Baghdad's northern neighbourhood of Hurriyah when unidentified gunmen opened fire, said the chief of his security detail, who asked only to be identified as Maj Mazen.

"Our convoy was moving in Hurriyah and they came from different directions and opened fire at us," said Maj Mazen, reached on al-Haidari's cell phone.

Al-Haidari was the target of another assassination attempt last year that killed two of his bodyguards. He is the highest-ranking Iraqi official killed since the former President of the now defunct Governing Council, Abdel-Zahraa Othman, better known as Izzadine Saleem, was assassinated in May.

Speaking in Phuket, Thailand, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was saddened to hear of al-Haidari's death. It comes with the Government trying to plan for January 30 elections for a National Assembly, a vote the insurgents have promised to sabotage.

"It once again shows that there are these murderers and terrorists, former regime elements in Iraq, who won't want to see elections. They don't want the people of Iraq to chose new leaders.

"They want to go back to the past. They want to go back to the tyranny of Saddam Hussein's regime and that's not going to happen," Powell said.

On November 1, al-Haidari's deputy Hatim Kamil was shot dead while on his way to work. The Ansar al-Sunnah Army militant group claimed responsibility for that attack.

Also today, a tanker truck packed with explosives detonated near an Interior Ministry commando headquarters in eastern Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding about 60, the Interior Ministry said.

A suicide driver rammed the truck at an Iraq police checkpoint near the headquarters, which is also near an entrance of the Green Zone, the fortified home of the US Embassy and the interim Iraqi Government.

Eight Iraqi commandos and two civilians were killed, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Today's attacks came a day after violence that saw three car bombs and a roadside attack, one near the Prime Minister's party headquarters in Baghdad and others targeting Iraqi troops and a US security company convoy. At least 16 people were killed yesterday.

Iraq's insurgents have repeatedly targeted Government officials and security forces around the country, saying they are allies of the US-led coalition.

Britain's Foreign Office said today that three Britons were killed in Iraq a day earlier. Britain's Press Association reported that the three Britons were killed along with a American in the car bombing of the US security company.