Baghdad - At least 30 Iraqis were killed and 35 injured
including army soldiers, tribal leaders, volunteer fighters, women
and children, in a series of attacks targeting volunteer anti-al-
Qaeda groups, sources said Friday.
At least seven people were killed and eight others wounded when a
suicide bomber detonated a car bomb Friday targeting a checkpoint
manned by both Iraqi volunteer fighters and military soldiers in the
Mansouriya region in Diyala province, reports said.
Most of the victims were army soldiers and civilian fighters,
independent Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported, quoting a
police source.
Mansouriya is 45 kilometres north-east of Baquba, the capital of
Diyala province.
Also in Diyala Friday, a woman wearing an explosives belt blew
herself up during a meeting inside the premises of the Sunni
Awakening Council in central Muqdadiya region, sources said.
Witnesses said the woman entered the office on the pretext of
meeting the head of the council. Earlier reports said 25 people had
been killed and 27 wounded in the attack.
The Sunni Awakening Council is a local, public committee
consisting of tribes people, who are volunteer fighters helping the
Iraqi police and army enforce security and eliminate al-Qaeda
terrorist network militants and other militias.
This model of volunteer resistance, primarily supported by the
United States, was first introduced in Anbar province and its
surroundings.
It was well-received and spread into Diyala province and the
capital Baghdad, especially in the predominately Sunni and ethically
mixed areas.
The Iraqi government recently decided to integrate the tribal
fighters into the security forces to help combat the ongoing
insurgency.
Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, is a flashpoint of
insurgency by Iraqi militant groups backed by al-Qaeda operating in
Diyala.
A large-scale security offensive mounted by US and Iraqi troops
has driven insurgents into nearby villages and prairies.
Meanwhile, gunmen opened fire on the members of the Rescue Front
militia Thursday night in Rabia near Mosul in Nineveh province
shortly after the men had attended a meeting of the group, a tribal
leader was cited by the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency as saying
Friday.
Two people were injured in the attack, the report said.
The attack followed the release this week of an audiotape on a
militant website in which a purported al-Qaeda leader in Iraq said
the terrorist network had established a new brigade to kill 'apostate
and traitorous' militia members who had joined a US initiative to
fight al-Qaeda.
Mosul is some 400 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Al-Qaeda militants are believed to have fled to the north after
extreme security measures had been followed by US-Iraqi forces as
well as by the volunteer fighters in Diyala and its surroundings.
In other news, US-led coalition forces captured two wanted
individuals and seven additional suspects during an operation in
Baghdad Friday to disrupt al-Qaeda, the US military reported.
Separately, joint Iraqi-US forces detained 55 suspects and killed
another in two separate operations Thursday near Balad, another
statement said Friday.
The forces had conducted the raid to capture a suspected leader
who reportedly waged indirect fire attacks on US soldiers, the
statement added. Reports indicate this cell was directly responsible
for planting an explosive device that killed three US pilots in
November, the statement said.
The cell has allegedly been involved in planting explosive devices
and other attacks on Iraqi security, US forces and civilians in the
area.
In a similar development, the coalition forces detained a
suspected militia leader, killed two armed men 'in self-defence',
wounded two others and detained five suspects during operations early
Thursday in the Hayy area, south-east of Baghdad, the US military
said Friday.
The targeted individual had allegedly received special weapons
training in order to train the militia members for insurgent
operations, the statement added.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story