Assailants shot dead an American aid worker in Baghdad on Monday in a rare killing of a foreigner in the Iraqi capital in recent years, two police officials said.
The man was shot in his car as he entered the street where he lives in the central Karrada district on the east bank of the Tigris River but the reason for the killing was not immediately clear, they said. They said the man's wife and child were in the car with him but were not hurt.
The officials said as the man drove through his street, a car cut him off and assailants in another car shot him dead. It was not immediately clear if the assailants were trying to kidnap the man, they said.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters the department is aware of the reports of the killing of a US aid worker in Baghdad and is looking into them. But, he said the department was not yet in a position to confirm the accounts of the death or that the person was a US citizen.
According to documents seen by The Associated Press, the man had been renting an apartment in Karrada's Wahda area since May last year.