KurdistanObserver.com

Arab Leader Shot Dead in Iraq City of Kirkuk

KIRKUK, Iraq, May 28 (Reuters) Gunmen have shot dead a former member of Kirkuk's city council, Iraqi police said today, the latest killing of a local official in a city where tensions between Kurds and Arabs run high.

Naif Sabhan al-Jibouri, an Arab tribal leader and former council member, was shot dead outside his home late yesterday, police colonel Adil Zain al-Abdein said.

Jibouri was said to have developed good ties with Kurdish officials on the council, which Kirkuk's deputy mayor suggested might have been a reason for the killing.

Over the past two years, more than a dozen local leaders -- including Kurds, Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen -- have been killed in Kirkuk, a city that draws wealth from huge nearby oil resources and which is claimed by all three groups.

The city lies about 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad.

There are fears any explosion of tensions in Kirkuk could provide a spark for a larger ethnic conflict in the country, but so far local animosities have largely been held in check.

Kurds make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population and live mostly in three northern provinces, where they have their own regional government and enjoy a high degree of autonomy.

Ultimately, Kurdish leaders would like to see Kirkuk assumed into the Kurdish region and made its capital, goals that Arab leaders would staunchly resist.