Kirkuk, Iraq  - Gunmen fatally shot a confidant of firebrand Shiite cleric and political leader Moqtada al-Sadr outside the man's house in northern Iraq.

The representative in Kirkuk of al-Sadr's political movement was gunned down by unknown perpetrators Sunday night, police said.

A supporter of the Sadrist Movement, which espouses a mixture of Shiite Islamist and Iraqi nationalist positions, accused police of not providing the politician with sufficient protection.

He had been one of the strongest opponents to plans by Kurdish parties to integrate the oil-rich city of Kirkuk into the Kurdish autonomous region. Many Iraqi Kurds hope to make Kirkuk the capital of a future independent state.  (dpa)