Gunmen Kill Iraqi General in Latest Strike

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http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0505/229191.html

Gunmen Kill Iraqi General in Latest Strike

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents purportedly belonging to an al-Qaida (website - news) affiliate gunned down a brigadier general in Iraq's Interior Ministry on Wednesday, the latest killing in an escalating campaign against the new government's administration and security infrastructure. The attack came after Iran's foreign minister pledged to secure his country's borders to stop militants from entering Iraq, and as Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari prepared for his first foreign trip to neighboring Turkey.

Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Khamas was shot and killed by four gunmen in a four-door sedan as he drove through Baghdad's southeastern Zaafaraniyah district, police Col. Nouri Abdullah said. Khamas' wife and driver were wounded in the attack, he added.

In an Internet statement, al-Qaida in Iraq, the group run by Jordanian terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, purportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, describing Khamas as "one of the heads of apostasy, and one of America's tails." The authenticity of the claim, posted on a site that carries similar statements, could not be verified.

Al-Zarqawi is Iraq's most-wanted terrorist and has a $25 million bounty on his head - the same as for Osama bin Laden (news - bio) .

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