.Iraqi Sunni chief thrown to his death
A 75-year-old chief from Iraq's powerful Tamim tribe was thrown to his death from the top of a Baghdad building after gunmen kidnapped him from a funeral, a relative said today.
Sheik Hamed Mohammed Suhail, a Sunni leader in a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite tribe, was seized from the funeral in Agarguff area near Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad on Monday.
"He was dragged from the funeral and taken to Shuala area in Baghdad and then thrown from the top of a building,'' his nephew, tribal leader Sheik Ali Suhail al-Tamimi, said, blaming Shi'ite militants.
Shuala is a Shi'ite neighbourhood in western Baghdad.
Although Mohammed Suhail is a Sunni, nearly two thirds of his tribe is Shi'ite and he was known as a moderate who was working to reconcile Baghdad's warring communities, his nephew said.
"We accuse the Mahdi Army of killing him in this ugly way,'' Mr Suhail said, pointing the finger at radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia, which has been accused of killing Sunni Arabs in Iraq's sectarian conflict.
Mr Suhail said his uncle died in a Shuala hospital.
"We demand that Mahdi army operating in the Agarguff area be investigated. These militias want nothing but sectarian war,'' Mr Suhail said.
Tamim is a leading tribe in the Arab world with clans in countries like Syria and Jordan as well as Iraq.
HeraldSun
Sheik Hamed Mohammed Suhail, a Sunni leader in a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite tribe, was seized from the funeral in Agarguff area near Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad on Monday.
"He was dragged from the funeral and taken to Shuala area in Baghdad and then thrown from the top of a building,'' his nephew, tribal leader Sheik Ali Suhail al-Tamimi, said, blaming Shi'ite militants.
Shuala is a Shi'ite neighbourhood in western Baghdad.
Although Mohammed Suhail is a Sunni, nearly two thirds of his tribe is Shi'ite and he was known as a moderate who was working to reconcile Baghdad's warring communities, his nephew said.
"We accuse the Mahdi Army of killing him in this ugly way,'' Mr Suhail said, pointing the finger at radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia, which has been accused of killing Sunni Arabs in Iraq's sectarian conflict.
Mr Suhail said his uncle died in a Shuala hospital.
"We demand that Mahdi army operating in the Agarguff area be investigated. These militias want nothing but sectarian war,'' Mr Suhail said.
Tamim is a leading tribe in the Arab world with clans in countries like Syria and Jordan as well as Iraq.
HeraldSun
posted by madtom at 12:28 AM
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