.Anti-Qaeda tribal chief and family killed in Iraq
BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) — An Iraqi Sunni tribal chief who led a US-financed militia battling Al-Qaeda militants was killed by a roadside bomb on Sunday along with his wife and their four children, police said.
The blast that killed Sheikh Abbas al-Tami and his family near Buhriz, in the southern part of the city of Baquba, the capital of the volatile province of Diyala, was the latest in a series of deadly attacks across Iraq.
Al-Tami was the head of the Majmaa tribe and led a Sahwa, or Awakening group, that is paid by American forces to battle Al-Qaeda jihadists.
He was driving the family car when the attack took place, police said.
Sahwa members are mostly former insurgents who fought US and Iraqi forces after dictator Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003, but later helped to curb violence after they sided with the Americans and government in late 2006.
Meanwhile a minibus passenger was killed and four others were wounded in a separate bomb attack in the Buhriz area, an insurgent stronghold, police said.
Earlier police in the troubled northern city of Kirkuk reported that two children were killed and two others were badly wounded when a bomb exploded as they played in an empty lot.
"The two children killed were seven and six years old, while two others were seriously injured, one who lost a leg," Captain Salam Zangan told AFP.
He said he did not know if the bomb had been placed recently or was old, but Kirkuk, 255 kilometres (158 miles) north of Baghdad, has been beset by recent insurgent-linked violence.
In a separate incident just north of the Iraqi capital in Mansuriyah, gunmen broke into the home of a woman, killing her and two of her daughters and wounding three other daughters, local security sources said.
A local hospital confirmed the incident and police said they were unsure of the reason for the attack.
AFP
The blast that killed Sheikh Abbas al-Tami and his family near Buhriz, in the southern part of the city of Baquba, the capital of the volatile province of Diyala, was the latest in a series of deadly attacks across Iraq.
Al-Tami was the head of the Majmaa tribe and led a Sahwa, or Awakening group, that is paid by American forces to battle Al-Qaeda jihadists.
He was driving the family car when the attack took place, police said.
Sahwa members are mostly former insurgents who fought US and Iraqi forces after dictator Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003, but later helped to curb violence after they sided with the Americans and government in late 2006.
Meanwhile a minibus passenger was killed and four others were wounded in a separate bomb attack in the Buhriz area, an insurgent stronghold, police said.
Earlier police in the troubled northern city of Kirkuk reported that two children were killed and two others were badly wounded when a bomb exploded as they played in an empty lot.
"The two children killed were seven and six years old, while two others were seriously injured, one who lost a leg," Captain Salam Zangan told AFP.
He said he did not know if the bomb had been placed recently or was old, but Kirkuk, 255 kilometres (158 miles) north of Baghdad, has been beset by recent insurgent-linked violence.
In a separate incident just north of the Iraqi capital in Mansuriyah, gunmen broke into the home of a woman, killing her and two of her daughters and wounding three other daughters, local security sources said.
A local hospital confirmed the incident and police said they were unsure of the reason for the attack.
AFP
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