A British-based Shia Muslim leader was today stabbed to death by an angry mob outside a holy Muslim site in Najaf.
Majid al-Khoei, a high-ranking cleric and the son of a prominent Ayatollah who was executed by Saddam Hussein, was attacked and killed by a mob outside the shrine of Imam Ali.
Haider al-Kadar, a member of Saddam's Ministry of Religion, who had been responsible for the shrine's upkeep was also killed in the attack.
At the scene there were conflicting accounts of what happened. Some witnesses said that Mr al-Khoei pulled a gun and fired one or two shots, others said he fired bullets into the air and into the crowd.
Both men were then rushed by the crowd and hacked to death with swords and knives, witnesses said.
Tony Blair said today that he was "saddened and appalled at the assassination".
He added: "I met him on several occasions both here in Downing Street and when he welcomed me to the al-Khoei Foundation in London in 2001. He was a religious leader who embodied hope and reconciliation and who was committed to building a better future for the people of Iraq.
"I would like to express my sincere condolences to the family of Abdul Majid al-Khoei and to the al-Khoei Foundation."
The al-Khoei Foundation is an international Islamic organisation which promotes the welfare of the Shia and some non-Shia Muslim communities in the UK and abroad.
The White House also condemned the killing. Ari Fleischer, President Bush's spokesman, said: "The very regrettable assassination of a sheikh from Najaf which the United States strongly condemns."
Mr al-Khoei and other former exiles had been trying to restore order in Najaf, which is the third-holiest city for the world's 120 million Shia Muslims.
Mr al-Khoei's rapid return to Iraq and his US backing had sparked intense criticism from other Shia Muslims keen to assert their authority after the fall of Saddam.
His critics also allege he was not as fiercely opposed to Saddam as he wanted his followers to believe.
He told The Times last week of his experience of returning to Iraq. He said: "For me, to be back after so long, made me full of mixed emotions. I was very happy to be home, but it's also very sad to see people in such a pitiful state. When I left it was a beautiful country, now everyone looks poor with no shoes and ragged clothes."
His late father was the Grand Ayatollah Abul-Qasim, who was the highest Shia Muslim authority at the time of the Gulf War.
Mr al-Khoei, 41, lived in exile in Kilburn, North London, for 12 years, and his four children were born and brought up in Britain. He was revered by many in southern Iraq.