The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe was killed today by a bomb north of Baghdad that had been planted on the underside of his vehicle, Iraqi police said.

Sheikh Ali al-Neda led the Sunni Arab al-Bu Nasir tribe, which has about 20,000 members, including Saddam's family. He took possession of the ousted dictator's body for burial after he was executed in late 2006 for crimes against humanity.

The tribal chief had been travelling along a highway from his house in Awja, the hometown of Saddam, when the bomb exploded, ripping through his car. The 65-year-old's driver was also killed and two guards were injured.

A police officer in the nearby city of Tikrit said: "Sheikh Neda was the victim of assassination."

An indefinite curfew was imposed on Awja, 95 miles north of Baghdad, as police sealed off the streets to search for suspects.

Members of Saddam's tribe have been targeted in the past either because of their ties with the former president or simply due to tribal rivalries. Sheikh Neda's brother was shot dead by unknown assailants in the summer of 2006.

The tribal leader founded a branch of a US-backed group of gunmen, who guard neighbourhoods under the payroll of the US military, in Awja last year. The so-called Awakening movement is one of the major factors that contributed to a drop in violence across Iraq over the past 12 months.

But leaders of this majority Sunni Arab group, which number some 103,000, have also become a favourite target of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

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