Majid al-Khoei, a Shia Muslim cleric, has been stabbed to death by a mob outside the Ali Mosque in Najaf today. Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor, left, explains the significance of his death.

"Mr al-Khoei was a prominent Shia Muslim figure working in Najaf to restore order in the city.

"He was viewed as an ideal man to act as an intermediary between coalition forces and the local Shia population.

"His credentials for the job were excellent. His late father was the Grand Ayatollah Abul-Qasim, who was the highest Shia Muslim authority at the time of the last Gulf War.

"He was also seen as a vital mediator between local rival factions, and it was in this role that he appears to have been killed.

"He appears to have convened a meeting to help reconcile the factions at the shrine of Imam Ali this morning.

"As a gesture of reconciliation, he arrived with Haider al-Kadar, the man who had previously held the responsibility for the shrine. Mr al-Kadar is widely disliked in Najaf because of his connection to Saddam Hussein's Ministry of Religion.

"Mr al-Khoei's appearance with such as reviled figure appears to have inflamed one of the factions loyal to a different mullah, Mohammed Braga al-Saddar, which appears to have led to his death.

"The killing will come as heavy blow to the coalition's efforts to keep the peace in Najaf.

"It also illustrates two of the central problems that coalition forces can expect as their role shifts from toppling Saddam's regime to establishing a viable, representative political system in the country.

"First, it shows the difficulties that coalition forces will have coalescing the differing religious and ethnic factions. Rivalries that may have been suppressed by Saddam's regime could now bubble to the surface now that he is seen to have gone.

"Second, it highlights the problem of dealing with Iraq's Shia Muslims who make up around 60 per cent of the population, but have been excluded from power from the period of Ottoman rule through to the present day.

"This exclusion has been a significant factor in the rise of militancy amongst their numbers, which will make engaging them in government extremely difficult.

"Yet President Bush and Tony Blair are both on record as saying they want the new Iraqi political institutions to be representative of the population. How they will reconcile these aims remains to be seen, but today's tragic deaths will be seen as a warning sign that this road is fraught with danger."

Explore Specials

• Style Guide