Gunmen kill Sunni protest leader in Iraq's Falluja

Gunmen on Sunday killed a leader of a Sunni anti-government protest in the city of Fallujah in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

 The attack took place at about 8:30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) when unidentified gunmen intercepted the car of the Sheikh Khalid al-Jumaili and opened fire, the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that the son of al-Jumaili was wounded.

 Jumaili and his son were en route to the protest camp at the edge of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said.

 Jumaili, 70, is one of the prominent leaders of Fallujah's sit- in camp, which is part of a year-long mass demonstrations by the Sunni Muslims against the Shiite-led government in six of Iraq's predominantly Sunni provinces and the Sunni districts in Baghdad.

 The Sunnis accuse the government of marginalizing them, and claimed that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces were indiscriminately arresting their sons, torturing and killing them.

 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki tried to meet part of the demands of the protesters by releasing hundreds of Sunni detainees, but the furious protesters believed that his move was not enough, particularly after the Iraqi security forces dispersed a Sunni protest camp in northern city of Hawijah on April 23, which killed and wounded dozens of protesters.