Gay Iraqi youth reported killed by police

BAGHDAD, May 5 (UPI) -- Human rights groups have condemned the slaying of a 14-year-old Baghdad youth shot to death by police apparently because he was gay.

Ahmed Khalil was shot at point-blank range on his doorstep after being accosted by men in police uniforms, his neighbors in the al-Dura area of Baghdad told the Independent.

There has been a reported surge in homophobic killings by state security services and religious militias in Iraq. Iraq's most prominent Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued an anti-gay and anti-lesbian fatwa which was blamed for a series of beatings, kidnappings and assassinations of homosexuals.