The sister of newly appointed Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has been killed in a drive-by shooting in the capital Baghdad.

Meysoun al-Hashemi and her bodyguard were gunned down while driving through the Hai al-Ilam part of the city shortly after leaving her home.

The attack follows the killing of one of Mr Hashemi's brothers on 13 April.

In a separate incident, three Italian soldiers and one Romanian were killed by a bombing in southern Iraq.

The troops had been travelling on an Italian military convoy in the city of Nasriya when it was hit by a roadside bomb attack.

Mr Hashemi, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party and one of the country's most prominent Sunni Muslims, was elected on Saturday as part of efforts to form a unity government.

His sister worked as head of the women's affairs department for the party, which is Iraq's biggest Sunni political faction.

According to Iraqi police Ms Hashemi was being driven to work when gunmen in another car fired a hail of bullets at her car, killing both her and her bodyguard before speeding off, police say.

The TV station owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party showed pictures of the bullet-riddled four-wheel drive vehicle.

Presenters said attackers used a car to block the vehicle's route before swarming around and firing 32 shots inside, AFP news agency reported.

Another brother, Mahmoud, was shot dead whilst driving in the city just two weeks ago. Two days after that, the brother of another top Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlak, was abducted and killed.

Blast Kills 2 Italian Soldiers, 1 Romanian

Two Italian soldiers and one Romanian were killed on Thursday when a roadside bomb ripped through their convoy in southern Iraq, the Italian defense ministry said.

The ministry had previously said three Italian troops and one Romanian had died, but subsequently revised the death toll.

It said a third Italian soldier was seriously wounded in the deadliest attack suffered by Italian troops in Iraq since a 2003.

Thursday's explosion occurred at 8.50 a.m. local time on a road southwest of Nassiriya, where the Italian contingent in Iraq is based.

Italy has some 2,600 troops in Iraq which it plans to withdraw by the end of this year.

"This is a tragedy for the whole of Italy," prime minister-in-waiting Romano Prodi said in a statement.

The deaths could aggravate tensions in Prodi's broad centre-left coalition, which narrowly won this month's general election, between those on the far left who want an immediate pullout and those like Prodi who favor a phased withdrawal.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi man shouts as mourners carry the coffin of Mahmoud al-Hashimi, whose brother Tariq heads Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political party, Friday April 14, 2006. (AP)