Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Tribe Zoba declares war on Al Qaeda

With more Sunnis turning every day al-Qaeda in Iraq is on borrowed time.

Sot Al-Iraq reports ongoing clashes between Zoba’ tribesmen and insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Iraq or the Islamic State of Iraq in Abu Ghraib, Al-Zaidan and Amiriyat Al-Fallujah west of Baghdad. The clashes were in response to the assassination attempt against Deputy Prime Minister Salam Al-Zobai, who is a member of the tribe, several days ago and a failed assassination attempt against a Zoba’ tribal leader in Mosul yesterday.

Unknown gunmen had opened fire at Sheikh Mohammed Jassim Al-Ugood and missed him but Al-Ugood’s son Buraq, 24, was killed. Local sources and the state-run Al-Iraqiya TV reported that two suicide bombers attacked the residence of another Zoba’ tribal leader at Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad this morning.

The attacks targeted Sheikh Dhahir Al-Dhari, a cousin of Sheikh Harith Al-Dhari, the head of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq. Al-Dhari had recently joined the Anbar Salvation Council against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The Zoba' tribe, which had so far strongly supported the Sunni-led insurgency against the U.S., occupies a vast area west, north and southwest of the capital, in addition to a presence near Mosul. The tribe's area of influence extends from Baghdad to Ramadi in the west and from the Baghdad International Airport to Mahmoudiya in the south.

No comments: