A powerful roadside bomb has killed the governor and police chief of the southern Iraqi province of Diwaniya.

The governor was a key figure in the Badr Organization, the military wing of the largest Shia Muslim party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC).

Khalil Jalil Hamza and police chief Maj-Gen Khaled Hassan were returning to Diwaniya city after a funeral when the bomb exploded beside their convoy.

The area has seen clashes between Shia militias and security forces.

Iraqi state television said the deputy governor had ordered an indefinite curfew in the province from 1900 (1500 GMT) in response to the killings.

Three bodyguards were also killed.

The Badr Organization has frequently clashed with rival fighters from the Mahdi Army loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.

The governor had recently issued instructions for other militias in the province to be disarmed.

PHOTO CAPTION

A map showing Diwaniya