Gunmen kill sister of Iraqi vice president

BAGHDAD, Apr 27 : Gunmen killed the sister of Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi in Baghdad today, Interior Ministry sources and two officials in his political party said.

They said Meysoun Hashemi was gunned down in the Hay al- Ilaam section of Baghdad. The killing comes after one of his brothers was killed on April 13. Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, was appointed on Saturday in efforts to form a unity government.

The brother of another leading Sunni politician, Saleh al- Mutlak, was found dead earlier this month after he was kidnapped.

Hashemi's Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest in the main Sunni political bloc and was the first Sunni Islamist party to join Iraq's political process, which US and Iraqi officials hope will defuse the Sunni insurgency.

Reuters