Gunmen kill protest organiser in north Iraq

Gunmen killed an anti-government protest organiser in north Iraq on Sunday, while a city council member and a farmer were shot dead in other attacks, police and doctors said. Unknown gunmen shot dead Bnayan Sabar al-Obeidi in front of his house in the northern city of Kirkuk, they said. Protesters have taken to the streets in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq for more than two months, calling for Prime Minister Nuri Maliki's resignation and decrying the alleged targeting of their minority community by Shiite-led authorities. Obdeidi's death comes two days after activists said security forces fired on a demonstration in Mosul, another north Iraq city, killing at least one protester and wounding others. Also on Sunday, gunmen killed Abdul Monam Mohammed, a city council member in Heet, northwest of Baghdad, while other gunmen killed a farmer and a roadside bomb wounded three people near Baquba, north of the Iraqi capital, police and doctors said. Violence in Iraq has decreased from its peak in 2006 and 2007. But even 10 years after the US-led invasion of the country, attacks remain common, killing 220 people last month, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources.