The corpse of Mahmud -- a religious conservative and the first member of the current parliament to be assassinated -- was found with that of his bodyguard, both of them riddled with bullets, in the streets of Baghdad on Thursday.

He had been meeting with members of the Sunni organization that manages mosque affairs across the country.

"We do not know the killers, but it is a despicable act against a prominent member of our party," said Ali Babir, a leader of the Islamic Group of Kurdistan, part of the Kurdish Alliance bloc in parliament.

"His killing is the result of the blind sectarian war that has left its trace on every Iraqi," he said.

The funeral was attended by a number of Kurdish government officials as well as parliamentarians.

Baghdad is the midst of a tense sectarian struggle that sees death squads and assassination cells roaming the streets killing members of rival communities.

Legislators in Iraq's fledgling state have always been under threat from armed groups and generally travel with several bodyguards.