Baghdad - A female suicide bomber attacked the offices of an
anti-al-Qaida group that has joined forces with the US, killing 12
people Friday in one of Iraq's most violent provinces, police and
the US military said.
A second attack at a checkpoint manned by Iraqi soldiers and
another of the US-backed groups killed 10 people, an Iraqi army
officer said.
The attacks highlighted the dangers for the US-backed groups,
which often include former insurgents who have turned against
al-Qaida in Iraq. The groups are credited with helping stem Iraq's
violence along with the influx of US troops.
Both bombings were in Diyala province, which remains one of the
country's most violent regions despite dramatic security gains in
Baghdad and elsewhere.
In the first attack, in the city of Muqdadiyah, 10 of those
killed were members of the local anti-al-Qaida group who have
partnered with US and Iraqi forces to rid their neighborhood of
militants, said Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Tamimi, the city police
chief, who said the bombing claimed 15 lives. The US military said
12 people died.
Another police official said the suicide bomber, who had
detonated an explosives belt, was a former member of Saddam
Hussein's Baath Party and identified her as Suhaila Hussein Ali.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to release details of the attack.
It was the second suicide attack involving a woman in less than
two weeks. On Nov. 27, a woman blew herself up near an American
patrol near Diyala's provincial capital Baqouba, wounding seven US
troops and five Iraqis, the US military said.
Friday's explosion occurred on the outskirts of Muqdadiyah, a
majority Sunni city about 60 miles north of Baghdad, on a road
leading to the town market, al-Tamimi said.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint in the
Mansouriayah area, 20 miles east of the provincial capital of
Baqouba, killed seven Iraqi soldiers and three members of a local
anti-al-Qaida group, according to an Iraqi army officer, who spoke
on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release
details.
Although violence has declined nationwide, it is still frequent
in the north, where al-Qaida in Iraq militants and other extremists
are believed to have fled a US-led security crackdown that began in
mid-February in Baghdad.
As the influx of US troops gained momentum earlier this year,
American officials have courted both Sunni and Shiite tribal
leaders around the country, hoping they will help lead local drives
against al-Qaida and other militants. A similar effort saw some
success in Iraq's westernmost province, Anbar, where Sunni tribes
rose against the organization's brutality and austere version of
Islam.
The groups now include some 60,000 Iraqis nationwide, most of
them Sunni Arabs, according to the US military, and members have
come under increasing attack from militants trying to offset recent
security gains.
Since the groups began forming in Diyala in July, many of their
members have faced deadly militant strikes. In Baqouba, at least 13
have died in suicide attacks, roadside bombings shootings,
according to records compiled from local police.
With overall violence on the decline, the United States has
pushed Iraq's government to make strides in reconciling Sunni
Arabs, Shiites and Kurds -- a step seen as key to keeping the peace
in the country.
A stumbling block in recent days has been a dispute over raids
on the home and offices of Adnan al-Dulaimi, one of Iraq's most
powerful Sunni politicians that led to the arrest of his security
detail, after a guard was found with the keys to an
explosives-rigged car.
He accused the Shiite-led government of trying to silence a
pro-Sunni voice by putting him under virtual house arrest. The
government says he was being protected because he no longer had
bodyguards. Al-Dulaimi was kept under guard for three days
following the raid last Thursday night, then shifted to a hotel in
the fortified Green Zone.
He returned home Friday and said the Iraqi military sent Humvees
along with him.
"I do not need protection, and I think that these vehicles were
meant to put me under observation rather than protecting me," he
told The Associated Press.
During a sermon Friday at Baghdad's main Sunni mosque, Sheik
Jamal al-Obeidi said the dispute over al-Dulaimi pointed to a
broader problem: "Iraq's government talks publicly about national
reconciliation, but in reality we do not find this
reconciliation."
(China Daily via Agencies December 8, 2007)
