Kurdistan parl. calls to overcome differences

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: The Parliament of Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Sunday called to overcome differences by means of “constructive” dialogue in order to deny gunmen the chance to destabilize Iraq. “Iraq is in need of hard work. It also needs to rally ranks and to overcome differences by means of constructive dialogue…,” the Parliament said in a message of condolence to the Baghdad-based Parliament following the assassination of MP Hareth al-Ubeidi, which was received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The council said that Ubeidi’s assassination has targeted national unity, democracy and the Iraqi people. On Friday (June 12), a security source said Ubeidi was assassinated by an unidentified gunman inside al-Shawaf mosque in Baghdad’s district of al-Yarmuk. A gunman was hiding at one of the restrooms inside the mosque of al-Shawaf in al-Yarmuk, southwestern Baghdad, and opened fire from his Walther gun at Ubeidi, a legislator from the (Sunni) Iraqi Accord Front (IAF), who was then leading worshippers for the Friday congregational prayers, according to the source. Ubeidi’s guards chased the escaping gunman but he blew himself up amidst them. The blast left the gunman and some guards killed, the source noted. The IAF had elected Ubeidi, a leading member of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), by majority in early May to be the head of its parliamentary bloc, succeeding the incumbent Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Iyad al-Samarraie. SS (S) 1