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Senior defence ministry official shot dead in Baghdad
BAGHDAD (AFP) Jul 19, 2004
 A high-ranking official at Iraq's defence ministry was shot dead in a hail of bullets overnight in Baghdad, a ministry spokesman said on Monday.

"One of the director generals in the Ministry of Defence, Issam Jassem Kadhem, was assassinated on Sunday at 10 pm (18H00 GMT) by unknown attackers who opened fire on him in the Saydia neighbourhood where he lives," spokesman Radhi Badr told AFP.

The killing occurred in the same area where a truck bomb exploded on Monday morning, killing nine people outside a police station.

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