BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb 5, SPA -- Two people were killed in the capital early Monday, when a mortar round slammed into a central Baghdad neighborhood and a bomb hidden in trash exploded on the city's east side, police reported. Elsewhere, two key members of Muqtada al-Sadr's political and military organization were gunned down just days before the U.S. and Iraqi forces planned to open a massive security drive in Baghdad. Ali Khazim, who ran al-Sadr's political organization involatile Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, was killedSunday by U.S. forces at his home in Howaider village, 20kilometers (12 miles) east of Baqouba, Saleh al-Ageili, aspokesman for the Sadr Movement's parliamentary bloc, said on Monday. Provincial police confirmed al-Ageili's account, the Associated Press reported. The second official, Khalil al-Maliki, a key figure inal-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in Basra, was killed by threegunmen in a drive-by shooting on Sunday in the southerncity of Basra, police reported. He survived anassassination attempt in the city last year.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/423094