BAGHDAD, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Unknown gunmen kidnapped and killed a Sunni Muslim cleric and dumped his body near a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad Monday, reports said.
A statement by the Committee of Muslim Ulemas, the highest Sunni religious authority in Iraq, said Sheikh Hazem Mohammed al-Zidi was assassinated and his body dumped near al-Sajjad mosque in Ur, next to Sadr City, a Baghdad slum and home for 2 million Shiites controlled by the Medhi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.
The statement did not accuse anyone of the slaying but warned the killers are attempting to incite sectarian strife.
"The vicious circle of violence will continue in Iraq as long as political and religious authorities do not assume their responsibilities properly," the statement said.
Al-Zidi was kidnapped with two of his companions Sunday after evening prayers outside al-Sajjad mosque.
The kidnappers later released his companions after beating them and kept the cleric, whose body was discovered Monday morning near the mosque. He had been tortured, the statement said.
