An Iraqi provincial governor was blown up by a roadside bomb on Monday in what appeared to be an escalation of a power struggle between rival Shia factions that threatens to destabilise the oil-producing south.
Mohammed Ali al-Hassani, governor of Muthanna province, was on his way from his home in the city of Rumaitha to Samawa, the provincial capital, when his convoy of nine cars was hit by a powerful roadside bomb, provincial officials said.
One bodyguard was also killed and two others wounded. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for Iraqis to exercise restraint, saying the perpetrators were seeking to "drown the province in chaos". Making the first visit by a senior French official since the US-led invasion in 2003, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France was ready to play a role in Iraq, but only after listening to representatives of all ethnic and sectarian groups.
Kouchner said France supported a UN Security Council resolution giving the United Nations a bigger role in Iraq. He was speaking after talks with President Jalal Talabani.
"One part of the fight against violence and the restoration of peace and democracy can happen through the United Nations ...France approves this path, France approves this (UN) resolution...and we will assist in this direction," Kouchner told a joint news conference with Talabani.
"Let us listen to the Iraqis and assure them that the solution to their problem will be Iraqi ... Let us make sure that sovereignty, integrity and democracy in Iraq are preserved. For France this is essential ... We are ready to participate in this process," he added.
He said France had disagreed with the United States on Iraq but that was in the past. His arrival in Baghdad on Sunday coincides with attempts by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to improve ties with the United States. The two countries had a bitter fallout over the US invasion, which France opposed.
Hassani was the second provincial leader to be killed in two weeks. The governor of southern Diwaniya province, a fellow member of the powerful Shia Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), was blown up by a roadside bomb on August 11.
SIIC and Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's political movement are uneasy bedfellows in the ruling Shia Alliance and have 30 seats each in parliament. Tensions have sometimes sparked fierce clashes between fighters loyal to the two groups.
SIIC and its armed wing, the Badr Organisation, are locked in a struggle with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia for control of towns and cities in Iraq's predominantly Shi'ite southern provinces. Hassani was a senior leader of the Badr Organisation.