BAGHDAD, Dec 18: Iraqi guerillas killed a US soldier in an ambush in Baghdad, the US military said on Thursday, as two assassinations underlined fears that internal political divisions could erupt into widespread bloodletting.

The soldier’s death on Wednesday night was the first combat fatality suffered by US troops since news on Sunday of the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, and the 199th since Washington declared major combat over on May 1.

In a further example of the violence that has gripped Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s capture, an official of the largest Shia group was shot dead on Wednesday.

A representative of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said Muhannad al Hakim had been shot dead near his home in Baghdad’s Amil district, after receiving death threats, allegedly from Saddam supporters.

The SCIRI official added that in a separate incident, an angry crowd in Najaf had attacked and killed Ali al Zalimi, an official of the Baath party who played a role in crushing an uprising after the 1991 invasion.

“People surrounded him with guns, and proceeded to shoot and beat him,” the official said, calling the killers: “residents of Najaf who recognized this criminal.”

DEADLY AMBUSH: A US spokeswoman said a soldier from the First Armored Division died in an ambush in the Al Karradah neighbourhood of Baghdad on Wednesday night. Another soldier and an Iraqi translator were wounded.