PrintOctober 11, 2007
Al-Qaeda Targeting Sunni Arab Allies
Counterterrorism blog is reporting that two suicide truck bombs that went off yesterday in northern Iraq targeted Sunni tribal leaders who have joined the "Awakening" and allied themselves with Americans:
Yesterday, two suicide truck bombs targeted a leader of the Salahadin Awakening Council. (The Awakening movements that have sprouted up across Iraq during the past year are based on the model that experienced great success in the Anbar province.)Bill Roggio is reporting that this isn't the first assassination attempt against tribal leaders. And while this attack missed its intended targets, others have not been so lucky.
The Times of London reports: "Up to 22 people were killed and many more wounded when two suicide truck bombs exploded in a town in northern Iraq today, targeting a police chief and a tribal leader who had joined forces with the US military against al-Qaeda." This is in line with al-Qaeda in Iraq's announced campaign of assassinations intended to coincide with Ramadan. As the MEMRI Blog reports, shortly after the assassination of Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, an extremist web site published a list of names and photos titled "Pictures of the Infidels and Apostates Wanted by the Islamic State of Iraq." The accompanying message praised al-Rishawi's killing, and threatened other tribal leaders who opposed al-Qaeda:
What this points up is the supreme effort al-Qaeda is making to decapacitate the tribal leaders who are in the forefront of the Sunni Awakening. They realize that as long as the tribes are cooperating with the Americans, the terrorist's days are numbered in Iraq.
