Iraq Army General Killed by Shelling

Shelling west of Baghdad killed the commander of the Iraqi army's 6th division on Monday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security spokesman said. 

Staff Major General Najm Abdullah al-Sudani was killed by "hostile shelling" west of the Iraqi capital, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta told Agence France Presse by text message.

Maliki issued a statement offering his condolences on the death of Sudani, who was "martyred on the field of battle."

The premier attended a funeral for Sudani on Monday along with acting defense minister Saadun al-Dulaimi and various senior officers, the defense ministry said.

Sudani was killed near where security forces have been locked in a months-long standoff with militants who have seized control of the city of Fallujah.

The government lost control of Fallujah and parts of nearby Ramadi in January, and Iraqi forces have so far failed to retake them.

More recently, a jihadist-led offensive overran swathes of four provinces north of Baghdad and more areas in Anbar, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, alarming the international community and heaping pressure on Maliki as he bids for a third term as premier.

Sudani is the latest in a series of senior Iraqi officers to be killed by militants and the highest-ranking casualty since the militant offensive began on June 9.

On December 29, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle near a military convoy in the northern city of Mosul, killing four soldiers, among them a brigadier general, a colonel and a lieutenant colonel.

And five senior officers, including a division commander, were among 15 soldiers killed during an operation against militants in Iraq's Anbar province on December 21.