A funeral is to be held on Wednesday for an Iraqi Sunni MP killed by a suicide bomber who wrapped his arms around the lawmaker before blowing himself up, as a political crisis engulfed Iraq.
The killing of Ayfan Saadun al-Essawi on Tuesday came just two days after Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi, a fellow Sunni and a member of the same tribe and political bloc, escaped an apparent assassination attempt as his convoy passed near where Tuesday’s attack took place.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Sunni militants often target officials and high-profile individuals in a bid to destabilise the government and push the country back towards the bloodshed that raged from 2005 to 2008.
Essawi’s killing is likely to further enflame tensions, with Iraq already grappling with a political crisis pitting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against Essawi’s secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc.
Essawi, 37, had been inspecting a road being paved south of Fallujah when the attacker, who was dressed as a construction worker, came up to him.
“The moment he stepped out of the car to check out this road between Fallujah and Amriyah, at this moment, there was a man,” said Sohaib Haqi, the lawmaker’s office chief. “He came to him, hugged him, said Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), and blew himself up.”