Kirkuk, Iraq - Gunmen fatally shot a confidant of Shia cleric and political leader Moqtada al-Sadr outside the man's house in northern Iraq. The representative in Kirkuk of al-Sadr's political movement was gunned down by unknown perpetrators Sunday night, police said.

A supporter of the Sadrist Movement, which espouses a mixture of Shiite Islamist and Iraqi nationalist positions, accused police of not providing the politician with sufficient protection.

End Item/ 129