NAJIF, Iraq, April 11 (UPI) -- A senior aide to rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr was killed Friday in Najif, Iraq, as he was returning home from prayers, Sadrist officials said.
Sadr followers said unknown gunmen assassinated Sayyed Riyadh al-Nuri, a senior official in the Sadr office in Najaf, The New York Times reported.
"We condemn this attack against Sayyed Nuri and we call on the Iraqi government to set up an investigative committee to stop the security situation deteriorating," said Hassan al-Rubaie, a Sadrist member of Parliament.
Iraqi security forces imposed a curfew in Najaf and put extra troops on the streets.
Within an hour of Nuri's death, a rocket struck the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad, the Times said. No one was injured in the blast that destroyed the food and beverage manager's first floor room.
Sadr's militant Mehdi Army and government security forces clashed in Basra and have been engaged in fighting in Sadr City in Baghdad.
