Sunni political group’s spokesman found dead after disappeared

The spokesman for a Sunni Arab political group was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds three days after he disappeared from Baghdad's Ghazaliyah district, family and associates said Tuesday.

Photo: Sunni political group’s spokesman found dead after disappeared

Saad Jarallah never returned home after leaving work about 6 p.m. Friday, his family said. His body was found Monday in the Baghdad morgue with gunshot wounds.

Jarallah was spokesman for the National Dialogue Council, a Sunni political group headed by Khalaf al-Ilyan. The council is part of a Sunni Arab bloc in the new parliament.

Sunni Arabs have accused Shiite death squads, some of them allegedly linked to the Interior Ministry, of targeting Sunni civilians under the cover of the war against Sunni-led insurgents.

The Interior Ministry denies the charge.

However, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad warned Monday that the United States will withhold financial support for institutions headed by religious extremists in the new government, which Iraqi politicians are trying to put together after the December elections, reports the AP.

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