A senior Iraqi intelligence officer was shot dead near his home east of Baghdad on Monday, according to state media.

“Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the officer in the Al Baladiyat area, east of Baghdad early on Monday. He died immediately,” Iraq’s state-run National Iraqi News Agency said quoting a security source.

According to another source, an online news portal close to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Col. Nebras Farman was killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen on his car in the Shia-dominated eastern district of Belediyat.

Farman, a Shiite-Kurd, was head of the Financial Audit and Budget Department of the intelligence service.

The Iraqi government has formed an investigation committee for the incident.

In March, another colonel who was working for the Iraqi intelligence service was assassinated by unidentified gunmen.