Iraq Sunni leader killed at mosque, fears of fallout

By Ahmed Rasheed and Khalid al-Ansary

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The head of Iraq's biggest Sunni Muslim parliament bloc was killed at a mosque on Friday, officials said, an assassination which could undermine efforts for sectarian reconciliation in Iraq.

Recently picked as leader of the Accordance Front, Harith al-Ubaidi was seen as a moderate able to broker peace among the bloc's groups and also with Shi'ites, Kurds and others who have struggled for power since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

An independent lawmaker and member of parliament's human rights committee, Ubaidi was also seen as a leading defender of the rights of Iraqi prisoners.

His killing comes as parties hold talks to form alliances ahead of a parliamentary poll due in January that is seen as a test of whether Iraq's feuding factions can live in peace after the sectarian bloodshed triggered by the war.

U.S. combat forces are due to leave Iraqi cities by the end of this month, and withdraw completely by 2012. Washington hopes political rapprochement can be reached before the troops depart.

The leader of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, ordered an investigation and condemned the killing, as did other leaders of Iraq's Shi'ite majority.

"This cowardly, repulsive murder is a failed attempt to plant sectarian strife and to strengthen the presence of the terrorist groups that have received fatal blows from our security forces," he said in a statement.

Ubaidi was leaving a mosque in west Baghdad after Friday prayers when he was killed.