At least 30 killed in attacks on anti-al-Qaeda groups (2nd Roundup)

Dec 7, 2007, 15:44 GMT

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.