Leading Iraqi security expert shot dead in Baghdad
A leading Iraqi security analyst and government advisor has been shot dead outside his home in the capital Baghdad, sparking public anger and a wave of condemnations from the country’s senior officials.
Three gunmen on two motorcycles fired at Hisham al-Hashemi, 47, from meters away on Monday, when he walked out of his home in the Zayouna district, east of Baghdad, and was getting into his car, according to the investigator assigned to the killing.
Hashemi, he added, was wounded and ducked behind his car, but the gunmen approached and shot him four times in the head at close range.
Saad Maan, Head of the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Media Relations Department, said the analyst was later confirmed dead at Baghdad’s Ibn al-Nafees Hospital.
A medical source at the hospital also confirmed that Hashemi had suffered “a hail of bullet wounds in several body parts.”
Some Iraqi media reports said Daesh had claimed responsibility for the act of terror via Twitter accounts affiliated with the Takfiri outfit.
Hashemi was known for his views and writings about politics, Daesh and the role of popular forces in Iraq. He was a respected security analyst who appeared regularly on state television and whose expertise was sought out by government officials, journalists and researchers.
According to an Iraqi government official, Hashemi worked as an advisor to former premier Haider al-Abadi and informally with the government of current Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
The assassination has triggered outrage among Iraqi elite, people, journalists and politicians.
Several Iraqi officials and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, have condemned the assassination.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry have called for the formation of an investigative committee into the incident.
It said in a statement that Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanmi had ordered the establishment of the committee under the chairmanship of the deputy director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, adding that all checkpoints have been instructed to inspect certain types of motorcycles and arrest the drivers who carry weapons.
ME
