Bomber Kills U.S.-Allied Sunni Leader

Officials Say Suicide Blast Wounds About 20 Others

(AP)  A suicide bomber dressed in a woman's robe detonated explosives Sunday in a heavily guarded Sunni area of Baghdad, killing the deputy leader of the neighborhood's U.S.-backed security volunteers who had turned against al Qaeda, Iraqi officials said.

Six bodyguards of Farooq al-Obeidi, deputy leader of the "awakening council" in Baghdad's Azamiyah district, also died in the blast, which occurred as they were seated on chairs near a checkpoint near the Abu Hanifa mosque in the former insurgent stronghold, police and Iraqi army officials said.

The assailant, wearing a black abaya robe, walked up to al-Obeidi's party and detonated the explosives, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to talk to media.

Some of the officials said the attacker was a woman. But one of them said the attacker was a man who probably wore the flowing garment to conceal the explosives.

Officials at a nearby hospital said about 20 people were wounded. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized the release information to media.

Such attacks have become rare in the center of Azamiyah since the U.S. military built a concrete wall around the heart of the north Baghdad neighborhood, where Saddam Hussein took refuge when the city fell to U.S. forces in April 2003.

Although Azamiyah was once a center of resistance to the U.S. and its Shiite allies, many local Sunnis later abandoned the insurgency and joined the awakening council, which provides security there alongside Iraqi soldiers and police.

"While I was shopping just across the street, I heard a huge explosion," said Omar Qassim, a member of al-Obeidi's group. "Body parts were flying through the air. I immediately realized that Farooq's party was targeted and he was probably dead."

The attack occurred about 7:30 p.m. in an area where families often stroll on outings during hot summer nights.

"I rushed to the scene of the explosion to see terrified people running everywhere, and women calling for their missing children," said Abu Mohammed, 54, who was shopping at a nearby grocery when the blast occurred.

"The situation was chaotic and horrible. I saw dead bodies, wounded people and blood stains on the ground. Later ambulances arrived and picked both the wounded and the dead. Some shops nearby were damaged, he said.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has often targeted leaders of awakening councils. But Khalil Ibrahim, an aide to al-Obeidi, said the attack could have been carried out by rivals within the council itself.

"We had received information that we would be targeted by groups within Azamiyah and within the awakening movement itself," he said, refusing to elaborate.

A senior police official also said it was unlikely that explosives could have been smuggled into the area because of security checks around the wall and said he suspected the attack could have been part of a power struggle within the council.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation had only just begun.

Also Sunday, insurgents raided a police checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, killing one policeman and wounding another, the provincial police command reported.

U.S.-backed Iraqi soldiers have been conducting a months-long operation in Mosul trying to clear the city of Sunni extremists including al Qaeda in Iraq.

Gunmen also assassinated a Sunni preacher, Loai Saad al-Din Othman, in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, police reported.

[babooph]

All that bribe $ in the Swiss account won''t help him now!

[petro49l]

Hey nikosk1, ask your doctor for a full frontal lobotomy. Also, take the extra Thorazine. It will make your surgery a success.

[petro49l]

Bin Laden has ordered the murders of the Al Anbar Sunni Leadership. They represent internal security to Iraq. How can Osama increase the size of poppy farms in Iraq with so many Sunnis? Al Qada Iraq has failed to significantly reduce their number. The assassinations of Sunni Leaders will destabilize the country.

[noloyalisti]

Yes, this is Mission Accomplished for the neo con men. Lie us into invasion, create chaos and make it so we can never leave. The fascist Bush administration knew just what they were doing for their masters, Exxon, Chevron, etc.

[micma-2009]

Is this the kind of success Bush and McSame are talking about?

[docpeter-2009]

They are just waiting til we leave. All this talk about the surge being a success is a bunch of ***. the Sunnis have realized they need to get along with us until we leave because then it is on between them and the Shiites.

Posted by Petesis at 11:16 AM : Aug 18, 2008
_____________________
Ah, Finally someone with vision that is not 20/20 hindsight.

[docpeter-2009]

"But this 2012 event foretold by the Mayans and now confirmed by modern astronomy could be bad, very bad. Some of the dips through the plane are worse than others and on the bad ones the earth''''s magnetic poles can reverse creating havoc with all of our modern electronics and devastation int he form of floods and earthquakes as the earth''''s core re-seats itself after the polar shift. But let''''s ignore this and focus on Iraq."

Posted by talkingham at 11:05 AM : Aug 18, 2008
__________________

So what do you propose we do about this?

[petesis]

They are just waiting til we leave. All this talk about the surge being a success is a bunch of ***. the Sunnis have realized they need to get along with us until we leave because then it is on between them and the Shiites.

[talkingham]

I''m much more worried about the Mayan calendar pointing to the end of the world in 2012 when the earth dips below the galactic equatorial plane of the Milky Way for the first time in 12,500 years than I am about Iraqi om Iraqi crime. After all, as Bush, McCain and Rush Limbaugh have repeatedly pointed out there''s just as many people murdered in our nation''s capitol each week than in Iraq.

But this 2012 event foretold by the Mayans and now confirmed by modern astronomy could be bad, very bad. Some of the dips through the plane are worse than others and on the bad ones the earth''s magnetic poles can reverse creating havoc with all of our modern electronics and devastation int he form of floods and earthquakes as the earth''s core re-seats itself after the polar shift. But let''s ignore this and focus on Iraq.

It''s no wonder that it has taken millions of years and numerous attempts for humans to reach their present level of under achievement. This planar adjustment has wrecked civilization every 12,000 years or so and we are due for the adjustment. Enjoy.

[talkingham]

I''m much more worried about the Mayan calendar pointing to the end of the world in 2012 when the earth dips below the galactic equatorial plane of the Milky Way for the first time in 12,500 years than I am about Iraqi om Iraqi crime. After all, as Bush, McCain and Rush Limbaugh have repeatedly pointed out there''s just as many people murdered in our nation''s capitol each week than in Iraq.

But this 2012 event foretold by the Mayans and now confirmed by modern astronomy could be bad, very bad. Some of the dips through the plane are worse than others and on the bad ones the earth''s magnetic poles can reverse creating havoc with all of our modern electronics and devastation int he form of floods and earthquakes as the earth''s core re-seats itself after the polar shift. But let''s ignore this and focus on Iraq.

It''s no wonder that it has taken millions of years and numerous attempts for humans to reach their present level of under achievement. This planar adjustment has wrecked civilization every 12,000 years or so and we are due for the adjustment. Enjoy.