BAGHDAD (REUTERS) - A Shi'ite Muslim member of Iraq's parliament was killed in a car bomb attack at a checkpoint entrance to the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Kadhimiya in Baghdad on Tuesday, according to a parliamentary media official and police.

Police and medics said Ahmed Al-Khafaji, also a member of the Shi'ite Badr political party, was among 25 people killed in the blast on the edge of Kadhimiya, home to the Shi'ite shrine of Imam Kahdim. Khafaji is also a former deputy interior minister, his party said.

The death toll was earlier reported to be 18. The parliamentary media official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Khafaji was in the area to visit the Imam Kadhim shrine.