Gunmen have killed a senior member of Iraq's main Sunni Muslim party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, which last month withdrew from the election on January 30. Omar Mahmoud Abdallah, a cleric who has written a number of books on Islam, was snatched from his pharmacy in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday and later found shot in the head. The Iraqi Islamic Party pulled out of the election fearing persistent bloodshed would deter Iraqis in the Sunni north and west from casting their ballots, skewing the outcome and undermining its credibility. (smh.com.au)