Unknown assailants in southern Iraq have gunned down two more candidates running for the political coalition of interim prime minister Iyad Allawi in the 30 January elections. Alaa Hamid, who was running on Allawi's slate of candidates for the 275-member National Assembly, was shot dead Monday in the southern port city of Basra in front of his family. A second candidate, Riad Radi, was also shot dead. Radi was planning to run in a local race for Basra's provincial council on a list supported by Allawi's party. Masked gunmen fired on his car on Sunday as he was driving home.Various Islamist groups opposed to holding elections while US troops remain in the country have warned candidates not to run. With less than two weeks until the vote, many candidates have not even announced they are running for fear of being attacked.