Spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi denounced "the use of violence to attain political objectives.

"Given the current tense situation in Iraq, brave Iraqis must, though unity and solidarity, prevent foreign forces from using divisions to impose their views," the ministry spokesman said.

Khoei, 50, was apparently stabbed and shot to death by a large number of attackers in a mosque in the Shiite holy city.

His father, the late Grand Ayatollah Abdul Qassem Mussawi al-Khoei, was one of the highest Shiite religious authorities in the world at the time of the Gulf War, but died in 1992 while under house arrest in Najaf.

SPACE.WIRE