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Gunmen kill chief of Iraq's commission targeting ex-Baathist

From Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN
Ali Faisal al-Lami was the executive director of Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission.
Ali Faisal al-Lami was the executive director of Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • The executive director of Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission is shot to death
  • The commission purges the government of members of the now-outlawed Baath Party
  • Violence elsewhere in Iraq kills two soldiers and an interior ministry official
RELATED TOPICS
  • Iraq
  • Ba'ath Party
  • Saddam Hussein
  • Middle East

Baghdad (CNN) -- Ali Faisal al-Lami, the executive director of Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission, was shot dead by gunmen Thursday evening, said interior ministry officials.

Al-Lami was riding in a car in eastern Baghdad on the canal highway at the time of the incident, officials said.

His driver escaped the attack unharmed, officials said.

Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission is charged with purging the government of mid- and senior-level members of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein's now-outlawed Baath Party.

Separately, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and 12 people were wounded when a roadside bomb explosion struck an Iraqi army patrol in the western outskirts of Baghdad on Thursday, interior ministry officials said.

In al-Ghadeer neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, gunmen shot dead Lt. Col. Khalid Mohammed, an official with Iraqi's interior ministry, while he was in a car, officials said.

In al-Sadoon street in central Baghdad, two police officer were wounded when gunmen attacked an Iraqi police patrol with small-arms fire Thursday, authorities said.

Also, two mortar rounds struck the fortified Green, or International, Zone in Baghdad, but there were no reports of casualties, officials said. The zone is home to the Iraqi government and U.S. and British embassies.

In another incident, four mortar rounds landed on Baghdad international airport but there were no report of injuries, officials said.