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Baghdad: Hundreds of supporters of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr gathered in Sadr City on Friday to mourn the death of a Sadrist lawmaker, assassinated a day earlier in a bomb attack.
Saleh Al Ugaili died on Thursday when a blast struck his car in the Habibiya district of eastern Baghdad. Ugaili is due to be buried in Najaf later on Friday.
It was not clear who was behind the attack, but another Shiite lawmaker from the Sadrist bloc said the killing should be seen in the context of the upcoming provincial elections, due in January.
Major-General Michael Oates, a US commander in southern Iraq, on Thursday said US forces feared a wave of assassinations before the polls.
Clashes between US and Iraqi forces and gunmen broke out in the Baghdad's Sadrist stronghold of Sadr City hours after Ugaili's death.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, US military commander General Ray Odierno, and the Sadrist political bloc all condemned Ugaili's killing. The Interior Ministry said it started an investigation.
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