BAGHDAD — About the same time that he was being praised by U.S. commanders for his role in improving security in Babil province, south of Baghdad, a popular police chief was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb that struck his convoy.
Maj. Gen. Qais Hamza Mamouri died along with two bodyguards in Hillah, capital of the predominantly Shiite Muslim province, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi law enforcement officials said.
It was the latest in a series of assassinations of high-ranking officials in the country's oil-rich south, where militias and tribal factions are engaged in a violent power struggle.
Also Sunday, gunmen in Samarra fatally shot Brig. Gen. Amjad Muleesi, a former military court judge for the Republican Guard under former President Saddam Hussein, police said.
Babil is expected to be transferred soon to the control of Iraqi forces, as the U.S. military seeks to take more of a support role in enforcing the country's security.
At a lunchtime media briefing in Baghdad, U.S. military officials had praised Mamouri for helping make the region more secure.
"We're very lucky in Babil province to have Maj. Gen. Qais, who is a very good Iraqi police chief for that province," U.S. Army Col. Tom James, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, in north Babil, told reporters. "He is committed to securing Iraq for the people, the population. He does not see anything through a sectarian lens, it's all about Iraqi law, and the people see that."
Law enforcement officials in Hillah said Mamouri's motorcade was hit at the city's north entrance as he was on his way to inspect a local police station. The attack reportedly occurred at lunchtime.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but local police sources blamed militants aligned with the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Last week, a group called Islamic State of Iraq posted an audiotape on a militant website announcing a new bombing campaign against U.S. forces and the "traitors" who fight with them.
Two southern provincial governors were killed during the summer, and Mamouri reportedly had been the target of six previous assassination attempts.
"Iraq today lost a faithful son and courageous military leader, a citizen who pledged his allegiance to the constitution and the values of righteousness and justice," Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said. "The hands of treachery and crime have reached . . . a man known for his straightness and devotion to his duty."
