BAGHDAD (AFP) - A senior Iraqi army officer has been shot dead in front of his home west of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said on Wednesay.

Brigadier General Riad Abdel Majid, an inspector for the defence ministry, "was killed in Ghazaliya by unknown persons who opened fire on him while he was in front of his house," the official said.

The attack took place late Tuesday, he added.

Members of the security forces are the main targets of an insurgency in Iraq launched by various jihadist groups including Al-Qaeda following the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.