The shooting in Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil came just hours after Nowfal al-Aqoub, the governor of Nineveh, made controversial remarks about children being fathered by IS fighters in the province.
The killing of Aqoub's nephew, who was also his personal driver, comes as Iraqi forces prepare for the battle to retake Mosul, the capital of Nineveh and the last city in the country still held by the jihadists.
Sifuk Watban al-Sultan died of a single gunshot to the head yesterday night near the governor's house in Arbil, the governor's secretary told AFP, asking that he not be identified by name.
The motive for the killing was not immediately clear, but it came after Aqoub made remarks at a conference in Baghdad earlier yesterday that were criticised by a political rival.
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The governor said that IS fighters had fathered children under temporary marriages as part of so-called "sexual jihad", a practice used by the jihadist group to motivate its militants.
Some of the women involved -including some of those who travelled to the Middle East to support IS- have apparently participated voluntarily, but others may have been coerced.
Iraqi forces have been conducting operations to set the stage for the battle to retake Mosul from IS, which has held it since June 2014, but they still have significant ground to cover as well as logistical preparations to make before a final assault can be launched.
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