Baghdad (AFP) - A Sunni tribal leader, his son and seven bodyguards were killed in Baghdad, a cousin told AFP Saturday, in an attack that could inflame sectarian tension in Iraq.

Sheikh Qassem Sweidan al-Janabi and most of his bodyguards were shot in the head, while son was killed by a bullet to the chest, said Abu Qusay, speaking from the cemetery where they were buried.

They were killed late Friday when unidentified gunmen attacked a three-vehicle convoy carrying Janabi and his nephew, lawmaker Zeid al-Janabi, late Friday, officials and security sources said earlier.

Janabi was later released but the tribal leader, seen as a moderate Sunni, as well as his son and at least six other people, mostly bodyguards, were killed, they had said.

"Gunmen manning a fake checkpoint stopped the convoy carrying MP Janabi and kidnapped all who were on board," a senior member of the lawmaker's staff said.

"They moved them to Sadr City, where they released the MP, then took the others and killed them. Their bodies were found next to Al-Nida'a mosque in northern Baghdad," he told AFP.

Sadr City is a vast Shiite neighbourhood in the north of the capital from which Iraq's powerful Shiite militias draw many of their recruits.

Abu Qusay told AFP by telephone that the convoy was ambushed as it made its way to Baghdad from Latifiyah, an area south of the capital.

- 'Message to Sunnis' -

Sheikh Janabi was found sitting in the back seat of one of the cars, his hands tied behind his back with his own belt and shot in the head, he said.

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UN's special envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov gives a press conference on July 19, 2014 in the Ir …

His son was shot in the chest and his body was found near the vehicle while most of the bodyguards had been shot in the head, he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings.

But Abu Qusay accused unnamed "armed militias backed by some sides of the government", in an apparent reference to Shiite militias who have been helping Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State group.

"People who carry state-issued weapons... and wear state-issued uniforms are behind the assassination," he added.

The murders are a "message to any Sunni who speaks out in the defence of Sunnis or asks for the return" of people displaced by fighting to their homes.

Sheikh Janabi had recently called for Sunni residents to return to Jurf al-Sakhr, an area south of Baghdad which government forces backed by Shiite militias recaptured from jihadists in late October, he said.

The capture of Jurf al-Sakhr by IS fighters had posed a threat to both Baghdad and the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, which millions of pilgrims visit each year.

Sheikh Janabi, who was born in 1952, was arrested by US troops in 2004, a year after the US-led invasion of Iraq, and served more than two years in prison, said Abu Qusay.

- Interior, defence ministers summoned -

Adnan al-Janabi, another MP from the same tribe, said the assassinated tribal leader was a key player in efforts to combat sectarianism.

He said Sheikh Janabi, who was a particularly prominent figure in the religiously mixed areas south of Baghdad, had "a known history of confronting terrorism, sectarianism, and supporting national reconciliation."

The lawmaker also said Janabi's only son, Mohamed, who was killed in the attack, had just returned after completing a PhD in law at the University of Glasgow.

Parliament Speaker Selim al-Juburi, also a Sunni, condemned the assassination and urged a full investigation into the attack.

He said the interior and defence ministers were summoned to parliament on Monday to provide explanations.

"Parliament will not remain silent in the face of acts that might undermine the authority of the state," said Janabi, at the start of a televised parliament session.

He said the assassination was evidence that some people in Iraq were "working to sabotage the achievements of the state".

The top UN envoy in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, also called for the killers to be brought to justice.

The US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against IS meanwhile carried out nine bombing raids in Iraq, including near the jihadists' self-proclaimed capital, the second city of Mosul, United States Central command Said Saturday.

The United States government released Saturday satellite images that, it said, show the presence in eastern Ukraine of artillery and air defense systems sent by Russia to the separatist rebels. EFE/File

The United States government released Saturday satellite images that, it said, show the presence in eastern Ukraine of artillery and air defense systems sent by Russia to the separatist rebels.

The black-and-white pictures were posted on Twitter by the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, who said the government of President Barack Obama is "sure" that all this armament belongs to Russia and not to the separatists.

On Friday the spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, Jen Psaki, accused Russia of continuing to deploy a "large amount" of heavy weapons and air defense systems around the Ukrainian town of Debaltseve.

"The Russian military has deployed a large amount of artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems around Debaltseve, where it is shelling Ukrainian positions," Psaki said.

Furthermore, "Russian units along the border with Ukraine are preparing a large shipment of supplies to pro-Russian forces fighting in eastern Ukraine," the spokeswoman said.

According to the Ukrainian high command, all day Saturday the separatists' artillery has been hammering Debaltseve neighborhoods, which have been the scene of bloody battles for several weeks.

The pro-Russian rebels say that in that area they have surrounded more than 6,000 Ukrainian troops, a number that the Ukrainian defense minister has denied.

The new outbreak of fighting comes just hours before midnight, when the cease-fire agreement takes effect that was reached at the Minsk summit by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Saturday that Kiev hopes for a "victory of common sense over sick imperial ambitions" and that the cease-fire agreed upon is observed.

This week Obama expressed his preference for a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian conflict but noted that, if such is not achieved, he will weigh several options including the provision of arms to the Kiev government. EFE

LIMA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Germany's Foreign Minister warned Kiev, Moscow and separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine on Saturday of the "high price" of violating a ceasefire agreement as fighting intensified hours before its start.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he did not expect such an intense surge in violence following Thursday's accord and urged all parties to obey its terms, which go into effect at midnight.

"If we fail with these efforts now, everyone in the region ... will pay a high price," Steinmeier said at a press conference in Lima, where he met with his Peruvian counterpart.

The ceasefire pact forged by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany followed 16 hours of negotiation and offered a glimmer of hope for an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

Breaking it would threaten European security, Steinmeier said, as well as "the possibility of cooperation in international institutions including the Security Council."

Fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, with separatists pressing government forces in the key town of Debaltseve and shelling killing at least one person in the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

Steinmeier said his understanding was that neither side had gained ground and that what mattered now was a commitment to the ceasefire agreement.

"If it is going to be respected, we're going to witness it tonight," he said.

Steinmeier also condemned a shooting at a meeting in Copenhagen attended by Lars Vilks, an artist who has received death threats since publishing images of the Prophet Mohammad.

"We will not fold before this type of terrorism," Steinmeier said. "We defend freedom and want to preserve it."

(Reporting by Mitra Taj; Editing by Tom Heneghan)