Blast near Baghdad kills 5 Sunni leaders - police

Source: Reuters

Blast near Baghdad kills 5 Sunni leaders - police
22 Jul 2007 12:10:20 GMT

BAGHDAD, July 22 (Reuters) - Five Sunni tribal leaders
opposed to al Qaeda were killed when a suicide bomber
drove a minivan packed with about half a tonne of
explosives into a house north of Baghdad on Sunday,
police said.

The Sunni tribal leaders were meeting in an area known
as Jurf al-Milih near Taji, about 20 km (12 miles) north
of the Iraqi capital, to discuss joining U.S. and Iraqi
forces in fighting al Qaeda in their mainly Sunni Arab
area.

A police source said the preliminary death toll of five
could rise. Another 12 people were wounded.

An Iraqi army source said the local Sunni tribal chiefs
were meeting after talks were held in Taji on Friday
with local Shi'ite leaders. Those talks were held under
the protection of U.S. forces, the army source said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22165129.htm

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Also: FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, July 22 - Reuters

If I was a "Sunni Tribal Leader" trying to decide whom to collaborate with, I would want to know.

I wonder how many of these leaders are in opposition to the US oil grab. :shrug:

as I read it, not this one (where they got blown up).

Salahdin Awakening council members.......Al Qaeda's most dangerous enemy.......

...looks like they'll have to lower those benchmarks again.

This is the third deadly attack on the collaborators, uh, I mean the brave Sunni sheiks who want to stand up to al Qaeda.

How does the killing of Salahdin province shiekhs have any bearing on anything going on in Al Anbar province?........

The correct thing to say would have been "looks like the thing that happened in Anbar is having trouble getting duplicated in Salahdin".......

...fireworks? The White House and the Pentagon had better get real and congress should put future war appropriations on hold until a plan for safe and immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops is in place.

Source: Associated Press

18 Killed Around Iraq; 2 Smugglers Held

Sunday July 22, 2007 5:16 PM

By BUSHRA JUHI

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military detained two suspected
weapons smugglers Sunday on suspicion of links to Iran's elite
Quds Force, even as Washington plans new direct talks with Iran
on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.

Bombings and shootings left at least 18 people dead nationwide,
including an Iraqi interpreter working for Americans in Kut, 100
miles southeast of Baghdad. A top aide to Iraq's Shiite spiritual
leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was stabbed to death Saturday in
the holy city of Najaf, officials said. Police and al-Sistani's
office declined to comment on the killing of Sheik Abdullah
Falak al-Basrawi, the second al-Sistani aide slain in just over
a month.

The suspected smugglers and a number of weapons were seized
during a raid on a rural farm compound in eastern Iraq, near the
Iranian border, the military said.

“The suspects may be associated with a network of terrorists
that have been smuggling explosively formed projectiles (EFPs),
other weapons, personnel and money from Iran into Iraq,” the
military said. The powerful, armor-piercing roadside bombs
known as EFPs have killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers in recent
months.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6797480,00.html

:eyes:

Note that they used a half-tonne of them.

;-)