US Edition The sister of Iraq's new vice-president was shot dead on her way to his party headquarters hours after he met the visiting US secretaries of state and defence.
Maysoon al-Hashemi, 60, who headed the Iraqi Islamic Party's women's department, died when her vehicle was attacked by gunmen in a speeding BMW shortly after she left home in Baghdad. Her driver was also killed.
Her murder underlined the deadly risks run by those taking part in Iraqi politics.
The threat is especially great for Sunnis like her brother, Tareq al-Hashemi, who have defied warnings from the Sunni-based insurgency not to join what it sees as US-backed puppets.
Mr Hashemi's brother, Mahmoud, was killed in a similar drive-by shooting two weeks ago. Two days later, the brother of another Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlak, was abducted and murdered.
Three Italian soldiers and a Romanian were also killed yesterday by a roadside bomb near the Italian base in Naseriyya.
In a video released earlier this week the al-Qa'eda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, renewed the insurgent threat to Sunnis and others joining what he called "this puppet government collaborating with the crusaders".