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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda militants in Iraq killed 21 people on Tuesday in bomb attacks targeting police and Sunni Arab tribes who have formed an alliance against the militant group, officials said.
Up to 35 more people were killed by two truck bombs in Tal Afar, near the Syrian border in northern Iraq, officials said.
The attacks came the day after outgoing U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said al Qaeda was trying to undermine efforts by the Iraqi government to court tribal leaders and some insurgent groups to collaborate against al Qaeda
Near Ramadi, in western Anbar province, a suicide bomber exploded his car outside a restaurant on a main road, killing 17 people and wounding 32, a hospital source said.
The restaurant was frequented by police in an area where local tribes have joined the tribal alliance against al Qaeda. Many police were among the casualties, the hospital source said.
In Tal Afar, a mixed town of Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Turkmen near the Syria border, up to 35 people were killed in two truck bombs and around 50 more wounded, officials said. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
One of the blasts was detonated by a suicide bomber who lured victims to his truck to buy wheat that was loaded on the back, the mayor of Tal Afar said
Earlier four people were killed in two blasts in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. One of the dead was the son of tribal leader Sheikh Thahir al-Dari, said Ahmed al-Dulaimi, head of the provincial council media office in Anbar province.
Dulaimi said it was a double suicide car bombing, but a relative of the sheikh, a member of the anti-Qaeda alliance, said the son was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the car he was in. Another person was wounded in the car.
Relatives blamed al Qaeda for the attack.
Dari's dead son, Harith al-Dari, is the nephew of his namesake who leads the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association, an influential body of hardline clerics. The cleric has spoken out against the anti-Qaeda alliance that includes his own tribe
Thahir al-Dari is the head of the al-Zobaie tribe, to which Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie belongs. The deputy prime minister was the target of an assassination bid last week.
ANTI-QAEDA FRONT
Suicide bombers have targeted a number of tribal leaders in the anti-Qaeda alliance amid a growing struggle in Anbar between the militant group and tribes who oppose its hardline form of Sunni Islam and indiscriminate killings.
Khalilzad, who left his post as ambassador to Iraq on Monday, said U.S. and Iraqi officials had held contacts with Sunni Arab insurgent-linked groups and were continuing to engage them to bring them into the political process.
In a move to address Sunni Arab concerns, Iraq's president and prime minister on Monday approved amendments to ease rules under which former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party were banned from jobs in government and the security forces.
Khalilzad has been pushing Iraqi leaders to agree amendments to the law to help reconciliation with disaffected Sunni Arabs.
Under the proposal, which has to go to parliament for approval, only senior members of the former Baath party will be banned from public life, and they will still be given pensions.
Others banned in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of 2003 will be allowed to return to their jobs in public service. The plan also sets a time limit of three months for people to file lawsuits against former Baath party members.
Sunni Arabs have complained that many thousands of middle- and low-ranking party members were caught up in the sweep of the law even though they joined the Baath party only to get jobs.
In Baghdad, U.S. forces said they had captured two leaders of a major car bomb cell responsible for attacks that killed around 900 Iraqis, mostly in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City.
Up to 35 more people were killed by two truck bombs in Tal Afar, near the Syrian border in northern Iraq, officials said.
The attacks came the day after outgoing U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said al Qaeda was trying to undermine efforts by the Iraqi government to court tribal leaders and some insurgent groups to collaborate against al Qaeda
Near Ramadi, in western Anbar province, a suicide bomber exploded his car outside a restaurant on a main road, killing 17 people and wounding 32, a hospital source said.
The restaurant was frequented by police in an area where local tribes have joined the tribal alliance against al Qaeda. Many police were among the casualties, the hospital source said.
In Tal Afar, a mixed town of Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Turkmen near the Syria border, up to 35 people were killed in two truck bombs and around 50 more wounded, officials said. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
One of the blasts was detonated by a suicide bomber who lured victims to his truck to buy wheat that was loaded on the back, the mayor of Tal Afar said
Earlier four people were killed in two blasts in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. One of the dead was the son of tribal leader Sheikh Thahir al-Dari, said Ahmed al-Dulaimi, head of the provincial council media office in Anbar province.
Dulaimi said it was a double suicide car bombing, but a relative of the sheikh, a member of the anti-Qaeda alliance, said the son was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the car he was in. Another person was wounded in the car.
Relatives blamed al Qaeda for the attack.
Dari's dead son, Harith al-Dari, is the nephew of his namesake who leads the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association, an influential body of hardline clerics. The cleric has spoken out against the anti-Qaeda alliance that includes his own tribe
Thahir al-Dari is the head of the al-Zobaie tribe, to which Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie belongs. The deputy prime minister was the target of an assassination bid last week.
ANTI-QAEDA FRONT
Suicide bombers have targeted a number of tribal leaders in the anti-Qaeda alliance amid a growing struggle in Anbar between the militant group and tribes who oppose its hardline form of Sunni Islam and indiscriminate killings.
Khalilzad, who left his post as ambassador to Iraq on Monday, said U.S. and Iraqi officials had held contacts with Sunni Arab insurgent-linked groups and were continuing to engage them to bring them into the political process.
In a move to address Sunni Arab concerns, Iraq's president and prime minister on Monday approved amendments to ease rules under which former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party were banned from jobs in government and the security forces.
Khalilzad has been pushing Iraqi leaders to agree amendments to the law to help reconciliation with disaffected Sunni Arabs.
Under the proposal, which has to go to parliament for approval, only senior members of the former Baath party will be banned from public life, and they will still be given pensions.
Others banned in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of 2003 will be allowed to return to their jobs in public service. The plan also sets a time limit of three months for people to file lawsuits against former Baath party members.
Sunni Arabs have complained that many thousands of middle- and low-ranking party members were caught up in the sweep of the law even though they joined the Baath party only to get jobs.
In Baghdad, U.S. forces said they had captured two leaders of a major car bomb cell responsible for attacks that killed around 900 Iraqis, mostly in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City.
