Iraqi Shi'ite party leader dies

The leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite Muslim political groups and most important religious dynasties died yesterday, adding to political uncertainty in a violent run-up to an election next January.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who headed the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a major partner in the Shi'ite-led government, died while undergoing treatment for cancer in Iran, ISCI said.

"It is a painful event and a great tragedy," the ISCI-owned television station quoted Ammar al-Hakim, his son and likely successor as party leader, as saying.

ISCI officials said two funerals would be held, in Iran and in Iraq.

Born in 1950, Mr Hakim lead ISCI since 2003 after his brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, was killed by a car bomb.

ISCI is part of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance, which includes Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, but it said this week it would lead a new group to compete in January's polls without Maliki.

Mr Hakim's "death at this sensitive stage that we are going through is considered a big loss," Mr Maliki said in a statement.

Anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a fellow member of the new, mainly Shi'ite alliance said: "This is a promise from me to all his followers...to be brothers and partners in this life and the next as they ask for the liberation of Iraq."

State television displayed a black banner of mourning and passages from the Quran in Mr Hakim's honour.

Political analyst Hazim al-Nuaimi said the loss of ISCI's chief peacemaker could lead to infighting.

ISCI must take care to line up behind the new leader, whoever he may be, in the five months before what are sure to be fiercely contested elections.

"Anyone who sees ISCI as vulnerable will try to take its place," said Mohammed Abdul Jabar, a former Shi'ite politician who now edits a weekly magazine.

Jalal al-Din al-Sagheer, who heads ISCI's Parliament bloc, said Ammar al-Hakim would be interim party chief and that a permanent leader would be chosen soon by senior clerics.

The leadership change at ISCI occurs at a turbulent moment in Iraq as the sectarian bloodshed unleashed by the 2003 US invasion fades but bomb attacks pick up again.

Iraq regained some sovereignty when US forces pulled out of urban centres in June, but a spate of bombings in recent weeks has undermined public confidence in local security forces.