Roadside bomb kills Iraqi governor, police chief

DIWANIYA, Iraq, Aug 11 (Reuters) The governor and police chief of Iraq's southern Diwaniya province were killed in a roadside bombing today, police said.

Police said the two men had been returning to Diwaniya, the provincial capital, from a funeral for a leading tribal sheikh 30 km east of the city when the bomb hit their convoy of four-wheel drives.

Three of their bodyguards were also killed.

Governor Khalil Jalil Hamza was a member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), the biggest Shi'ite party in Iraq, whose armed wing, the Badr Organisation, has been in conflict with the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Police named the police chief as Major-General Khaled Hassan.

Diwaniya province was formerly known as Qadisiya.

REUTERS RSA HT2037