Tribal force attacks al-Qaeda insurgents, seizes weapons in Iraq

Feb 18, 2008, 11:15 GMT

Baghdad - A local tribal force in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra said Monday it killed a gunman wearing an explosive belt and arrested two suspected al-Qaeda insurgents in a raid on their hideout where a large weapons cache was seized.

'The local police and a tribal force launched Sunday night a search operation in Jalam, east of Samarra, for members of al-Qaeda,' Mazen Yussif, the head of the tribal force in Samarra, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Three fighters fled after the shootout that erupted in their hideout where a big weapons cache was found. It included 100 rocket propellers, 100 mortar guns, hundreds of rifles of various ranges, explosives, mines and explosive belts.

The weapons were found stored in boxes underground.

A US force took the weapons and the two arrested fighters to its headquarters.

Tribal forces known as Awakening Councils are US-funded civilian armed groups formed in Sunni Arab-dominated areas to fight insurgents from the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Some members of the groups are themselves former insurgents.

Their campaign against al-Qaeda has contributed to improving security in many Sunni areas and marked a significant development in Iraq in the past year. Under a US-backed plan, their members should join the regular security forces or find other jobs.

Awakening Councils have recently been targeted in attacks believed to be largely carried out by the al-Qaeda in Iraq group and their allies.

But they have also been victims of suspected US friendly fire. Three of their members were killed Friday in Jurf al-Sakhr, a village south of Baghdad, in an alleged friendly fire incident.

The US military denied that its troops deliberately targeted members of Awakening Councils.

Separately, the multinational forces denied a report carried by the Voices of Iraq news agency and cited by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that one of its helicopters had opened fire Friday on a house in Howeija near the northern city of Kirkuk, killing eight people.

The denial was made in a US military statement sent to dpa.