Gunmen kill head of religious group in Iraq's Basra

BAGHDAD, June 16 (Reuters) Gunmen today killed the local head of a Sunni religious group in the Iraqi Shi'ite city of Basra, the group and state television said.

Unknown gunmen shot dead Yusif al-Hassan near the mosque where he led prayers in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, colleagues said.

Hassan was a senior member of the Muslim Scholars Association, a group from the Sunni minority community that is critical of the US-backed political process.

Attacks on mosques have been on the rise since militants bombed a Shi'ite shrine in the city of Samarra in February, stoking sectarian tensions between majority Shi'ites and once- dominant Sunnis.

REUTERS SB RK1901