Slain Iraqi-American woman buried in Najaf

Mourners gathered in Najaf, Iraq on Saturday to attend the burial ceremony for an Iraqi-American woman who died after being severely beaten in her California home by a killer who left a threatening note that may suggest a hate crime.

Relatives and friends marched in Najaf, south of Baghdad, before heading to the cemetery, carrying the coffin and chanting “There is no God but Allah”.

Officials from local government also attended the ceremony.

Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of five, was found unconscious in the dining room of her rented home in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon on the morning of March 21 by her 17-year-old daughter, police said.

She was taken to a local trauma center with a severe head injury, police said. Doctors took her off life support and she died on March 24.

Police have said they were investigating the killing of Alawadi as a possible hate crime because of a note found near her after the beating that police said was "threatening in nature." Authorities have stopped short of ruling out other scenarios.