"Iraqi Governor Is Assassinated"
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 20 - The governor of a southern Iraqi province was assassinated today by a roadside bomb, officials said, in the latest attack to open up the prospect of escalating violence among Shiites.
The killing of the official, Muhammad Ali Al-Hassani, was the second time this month that a provincial governor was assassinated. On Aug. 11, the governor of Qadisiya Province was killed in a roadside bomb attack in a southern region that has been a battleground between Shiite factions.
In today's attack, Mr. Hassani was leaving his house in the Rumaitha area of Samawa in Muthana Province for his office when he and a number of his security personnel were killed by the bomb, an Iraqi army commander said.
