Baghdad, May 27 (IANS): A senior Iraqi politician in charge of a committee purging Saddam Hussein loyalists was assassinated Thursday, Xinhua quoted a police source as saying.

Ali al-Lami, the executive director of the Justice and Accountability Commission (JAC), was shot dead Thursday in his car in east Baghdad by unidentified gunmen using silent weapons, the police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The JAC, formerly named de-Baathification Committee formed after the Iraq war, is tasked with vetting people trying to get government jobs or take political office for ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Al-Lami and his JAC came under fire in last year's general election because he banned some Sunni candidates running for office on the allegation that the latter had ties with Saddam's Baath regime.

Many Sunnis see the move as attempts to further marginalise the minority group which ruled the country before.