Gunmen assassinate tribal affairs office chief in Ninewa

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Gunmen assassinated the director of the clans’ affairs office director in northern Mosul city on Monday, according to a local police source in Ninewa. “The gunmen opened fire on Monday morning at Brig. Zhannoun Ballou in front of his house in al-Hadbaa neighborhood, northern Mosul, just as he was heading for work,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. The gunmen then escaped to an unknown place, he added. Ballou, a former Iraqi army officer, was a senior military official in Ninewa. He had received the duties of his post as the al-Hadbaa list received the province administration in mid-April after winning the provincial council election early this year. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. AmR (P) 2