Iraqi Vice President Khudayr al-Khuzaie’s bodyguard was gunned down in central Baghdad on Saturday.

Iraqi Vice President Khudayr al-Khuzaie's bodyguard was gunned down in central Baghdad on Saturday.

"Several gunmen opened fire using silenced pistols against a bodyguard of Khudayr al-Khuzaie in Karrada and killed him," an interior ministry official said.

A doctor at Ibn Nafis hospital in central Baghdad confirmed receiving the corpse of the bodyguard, and added that another guard was wounded in the shooting.

Khuzaie, one of Iraq's two vice presidents, was not in the area when his bodyguard was killed at around midday (0900 GMT) in the main commercial Karrada neighbourhood.

Both the official and the doctor spoke on condition of anonymity. It was unclear if the shooting was targeted or not.