Khudr Abdul Abbas Hamza had left his home in the western Baghdad district of Dawdi when his armoured Ford vehicle was hit by a bomb hidden in an empty oil drum, said lieutenant Muqhallad Abbas, a bodyguard for Hamza.

One passerby was wounded when Hamza's bodyguards opened fire after the explosion at 8 am (0500 GMT) on suspicion that the assailants who had detonated the roadside bomb were lurking nearby.

sj-at-np/bp/kir

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