Ajil al-Yawer, new chief of IGC, meets the press in Baghdabd, May 17, 2004.(Xinhua Photo)

    BAGHDAD, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) appointed on Monday Ghazi Ajil al-Yawer, a civil engineer from the northern city of Mosul, to replace rotating council chief Izzadine Salim, who was assassinated in a suicide car bombing earlier the day, Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV channel reported.

    Al-Yawer, a Sunni Muslim, was appointed by the council in a meeting shortly after the blast that killed Salim, according to thechannel.

    The position of council chief rotates monthly. Al-Yawer will serve as chief of the US-installed council until the transfer of power from US-led coalition to Iraqis on June 30.

    Salim, also known as Abdul Zahra Othman Mohammad, was killed earlier Monday by the suicide car bomb explosion near a checkpoint outside the coalition headquarters in central Baghdad.

    Salim was in his car within his procession waiting to enter the main coalition compound in Baghdad when the car exploded.

    He was a Shiite and leader of the Islamic Dawa Movement in the southern city of Basra. He was a writer, philosopher and political activist and editor of several newspapers and magazines. Enditem