Soccer Extreme : An Iraqi footballer was shot dead by an unknown assailant on Tuesday as he waited for a taxi to take him to his club, officials revealed.Ahmed Shallal, a 24-year-old player with Ath-Thawra Sport Club, was killed in Kirkuk, 255 kilometres north of the capital, Baghdad.
"He was trying to rent a taxi near his house and an unknown person, accompanied by one or two others in a car shot him," said Sarhad Qadir, a senior police officer.
Ath-Thawra director Said Nuri Mohammed said: "We do not know why he was killed, whether it was a terrorist act or for some other reason, but as a result we have lost a distinguished player."
Harbi Khalid, chief of the city's Olympic committee, added: "He was a player of talent and we demand that the police find those responsible."