Iraq's leading Sunni religious organisation on Wednesday accused the the Iraqi police and a major Shia Islamist party of assassinating some 15 Sunnis, including pro-insurgent clerics, in a major escalation of sectarian tension.

"This is state terrorism by the Ministry of Interior," said Hareth al-Dhari, secretary general of the Association of Muslim Scholars. He was standing before a congregation at the Umm al Qura mosque alongside representatives of other Islamic groups, behind the coffin of Hassan al-Naimi, one of the slain sheikhs.