Nine Key Kurds killed in Ansar al-Islam ambush

Eight persons were murdered including a key figure in the Kurdistani National Federation party on Saturday in an ambush installed by a group representing by Ansar al-Islam ( Islam partisans) in one of the Kurdish villages to the North of Iraq, according to the party's political bureau which is led by Jalal al-Talibani.

In a statement yesterday, the office said that a small group of Ansar al-Islam group was able on Saturday after noon to assassinate Shawkat Haji Musheer, member of the leading committee in the Kurdistani National Federation and member of the Kurdistani National Council ( the parliament) in Kamish Ketta village which belongs to Shahrazour city to the Northern West of al-Suleimaneyah and also his two escorts Hikmat Haji Othman and Serdar Ghafour.

The statement added that Musheer was ambushed by Ansar al-Islam group which asked him to set a date with him in order to discuss ways to leave the group's lines and join the national federation, noting that the date was fixed in the house of a farmer who was also killed with his wife and three children in the ambush.