KIRKUK, Iraq – Gunmen shot and killed a moderate Sunni Muslim tribal leader with close ties to Iraqi Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk (search), police said Saturday.
Sheik Sabhan Khalaf al-Jibouri (search), 52, died in a hail of machine-gun fire late Friday outside his home, Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin said. The unidentified gunmen fled. The victim had been a member of Kirkuk's now-dissolved Governing Council.
Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed city 180 miles north of Baghdad (search).
Insurgents have routinely targeted moderate tribal leaders along with Kurdish and Turkomen officials, seeking to foment ethnic tension. Militants operating there have also attacked police.
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