Third NOC Official Assassinated

By Simon Kent.

An official with the Iraqi North Oil Company has been shot dead in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, Reuters reports.

The murder of Hassan Salim is the third assassination of an oil official from the NOC in just four months, in an area which has been disputed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen since the fall of the Saddam regime in 2003. In recent months, a spate of killings have targeted Sunnis during an otherwise calm period for the province.

One other man was killed in the assassination, which took the form of a drive by shooting targeting the official's minibus. NOC chief of operations Saad al Karbalaei was assassinated in June, and an un-named official said the recent killing was related to an investigation Mr. Salim was carrying out looking into corruption.

(Source: Reuters.)