Officials in Iraq say gunmen have shot and killed a senior judge in eastern Baghdad.
A court spokesman says Judge Kamil al-Showaili was assassinated Friday as he was driving home. The unidentified assailants were also in a car.
Showaili was the head of one of Baghdad's two appeals courts.
In a separate development, the U.S. military says it will delay handing security control of Anbar province to Iraqi forces on Saturday because of weather concerns.
The military Friday said a forecasted sandstorm could prevent U.S. and Iraqi officials from attending a ceremony marking the transfer of power.
A U.S. spokesman said the delay is not related to a suicide bomb attack that occurred Thursday at a municipal office in Anbar.
The blast killed 23 people at a meeting between local officials and a group of tribesmen opposed to al-Qaida.
Anbar is set to become the 10th province to revert to Iraqi control after the region experienced a sharp drop in violence since 2006.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
