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A senior Iraqi scientist who had been involved in Iraq's nuclear program was found murdered in Baghdad recently, according to U.S. officials.

It was the ninth assassination of Iraqi scientists in the past four months, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. The last killing was that of Iraqi aeronautical scientist Muhyi Hussein.

Majid Hussein Ali, a professor at the College of Science at Baghdad University, was found dead in the Raghibah Khatun.

He had been shot twice in the back. The assassins are believed to be former members of Saddam Hussein's government.

The killing appears to be part of an effort to systematically eliminate Iraqi scientists and technicians involved in Saddam's nuclear program.

The scientist had been involved in nuclear physics research, notably nuclear centrifugal force.

Although the reason for the assassination campaign is unclear, U.S. officials believe the killings represent an effort to conceal the scope of Iraq's nuclear program.

Former CIA weapons inspector David Kay said in October that two Iraqi weapons scientists who had been cooperating with the U.S. military were shot, and one of them was killed.

The murdered scientist was shot in the head outside of his apartment.

"We think it was because, in fact, he was engaged in discussions with us," Kay said.

Iraqi scientists have been helping the Iraq Survey Group uncover the nuclear program, which had been on hold since 1991 with the goal of eventually being restarted.

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