The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe was killed by a bomb attached to his vehicle north of Baghdad today.
Police in the nearby town of Tikrit said a bomb appeared to have been fixed to the undercarriage of Sheikh Ali al-Neda's car.
"Sheikh Neda was the victim of assassination. When he left his house there was a bomb in his car that killed him and a driver and wounded two of his guards," said Major Ahmed Subhi, head of a counter-terrorism unit in Salahuddin province.
The blast killed Sheikh Neda after he left his house in Saddam's hometown of Awja and was travelling along the highway to Tikrit, 150 kilometres north of Baghdad.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in in Awja, which was sealed off by police who were searching for suspects.
Sheikh Neda, a member of Iraq's minority Sunni Arab sect, who took possession of Saddam's body for burial after the Iraqi leader was executed in December 2006 for crimes against humanity. Gunmen shot dead Sheikh Neda's brother in 2006.
On the first anniversary of Saddam's hanging, Sheikh Neda had called on Iraqis to forget the past and work for national reconciliation. "We have to build a future without revenge," he said.