IRAQ: Anti-al Qaeda Sunni groups are target of Iraq attacks

Record ID: 352551

  • Title: IRAQ: Anti-al Qaeda Sunni groups are target of Iraq attacks
  • Date: 27th March 2007
  • Summary: WOUNDED MAN LYING ON HOSPITAL BED PART OF MAN'S LEG WOUNDED MAN LYING ON BED WITH BANDAGED PARTLY AMPUTATED LEG
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA3OXZMIH8YMRQ7PAWM9T0SQ3OQ
  • Story Text: The son of an anti-al Qaeda tribal leader is among four people killed in a suicide car bomb west of Baghdad. Four people, including the son of an anti-al Qaeda tribal leader, were killed in an insurgent attack on the chief's home on Tuesday (March 27) just west of Baghdad.
    Ahmed al-Dulaimi, the head of Anbar's provincial council media office, told Reuters two suicide car bombers targeted Sheikh Thahir al-Dari's home.
    However, a relative of the sheikh, who is a member of a group of tribes that have formed an alliance against al Qaeda, said the son was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the car in which he was travelling. Another person in the car was wounded.
    Relatives blamed al Qaeda for the attack.
    Television pictures showed the burnt wreckage of Dari's son's car lying on the side of the road.
    Nearby was the wreckage of the car bomb, with a charred body lying next to it.
    Dari is the head of the al-Zobaie tribe, to which Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie belongs. The deputy prime minister was the target of an assassination attempt last week.
    Dari's dead son, Harith al-Dari, is the nephew of his namesake who leads the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association, an influential body of hardline clerics. The cleric has spoken out against the anti-Qaeda alliance that includes his own tribe.
    Al Qaeda's adherence to a radical form of Sunni Islam and indiscriminate killings have brought it into conflict with some Sunni tribes in Anbar.
    Suicide bombers have targeted a number of tribal leaders in the anti-Qaeda alliance amid a growing struggle in Anbar between the militant group and tribes who oppose it.
    Zobaie was wounded in last week's attack at his compound in Baghdad. An aide said that suicide bomber was one of his own guards and that the tribe was itself divided between those loyal to the government and those supporting al Qaeda.
    Outgoing U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Monday (March 26) U.S. and Iraqi officials had held contacts with Sunni Arab insurgent groups to build an alliance against al Qaeda.
    To the south of the capital, U.S. forces raided the home of Mohammed al-Tabtabayi, an aide to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Police said Tabtabayi was not there at the time. His brother was detained during the raid.
    During the same raid, one person was killed and six were wounded when two vehicles -- a car and a motorcycle -- came under fire. The wounded were taken to hospital. One of them had to have a leg amputated.
    The U.S. military did not immediately respond to queries about the incident.
    South of Baghdad, Iraqi army and police backed by U.S. forces launched a joint operation to round up suspected militants.
    The troops raided the area of Nadhir in the Shi'ite town of Hilla, 100 km (62 mile) south of Baghdad, in the early hours on Tuesday, blocking all the main roads to the area and carrying out search of suspected hideouts.
    Ten suspects were arrested and weapons were confiscated, including 55 machineguns, 30 sticks of dynamite and 25 pistols.
    "The Scorpion, the 2nd Brigade of the Iraqi army and police forces in Babil province have started a comprehensive search operation. The operation started at 0400 a.m. (0100 GMT) and ended at 1200 a.m. (0900 GMT). The operation was carried out in three stages in which we seized a number of suspects and different kinds of weapons, ammunition and explosives," Brigadier Abbass al-Jubouri, commander of the Iraqi Scorpion Forces, told reporters.
    Hilla, 100 km (62 mile) south of Baghdad, has seen a upsurge in violence in the past few days with attacks near Shi'ite and Sunni mosques as well as clashes between gunmen and U.S. forces.
    U.S. and Iraqi forces have been cracking down in Baghdad and nearby towns, but bombings and other attacks continue.
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