4 bodies found, Sahwa official escapes attempt
September 27, 2008 - 03:54:52
BAGHDAD, Sept. 27 (VOI) – Policemen on Saturday found bodies of four people suspected members of al-Qaeda network east of Baaquba, while a Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighters corps official escaped an assassination attempt in the city, a security source in Diala said.
“Policemen, in cooperation with the local citizens, found on Saturday bodies of four persons suspected members of al-Qaeda who have been killed two days ago while booby-trapping a vehicle south of Baladruz district, (45 km) east of Baaquba,” the source, who asked not be named, told Aswat al-Iraq.
“The four charred bodies were removed to the mortuary in the city,” the source noted.
Meanwhile, the same source said gunmen opened fire today at a Sahwa leader in the village of al-Sada, eastern Baaquba, but he survived unscathed.
The village was once considered one of the most important strongholds of al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq before Operation Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good) was launched in Diala province.
In a separate incident, gunmen suspected members of al-Qaeda attacked a civilian man while returning to his home in al-Mafraq neighborhood, Baaquba, on Saturday, the source said.
The man, who was injured in the attack, was among thousands of Iraqis who were forced to leave their homes and relocate to other areas.
The same neighborhood – al-Mafraq – had witnessed the injury of five members of a family after improvised explosive devices went off near their home five days ago.
The Iraqi security forces have started launching a large-scale security crackdown in July on gunmen in Diala province.
The Sahwa councils were set up in a number of Iraqi provinces such as al-Anbar, Diala, Ninewa, and Salah al-Din with the aim of bolstering political and local tribal powers to fight armed groups, particularly al-Qaeda network, in those areas.
These councils are usually led by tribal chiefs or notables in the provinces.
Following the assassination of his father and six of his brothers by al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq in 2004, Sheikh Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha founded the Anbar Sahwa Council and chaired the Iraq Sahwa Congress, an alliance encompassing 42 clans that pledged to fight al-Qaeda members.
The Sahwa fighters managed to flush out armed groups from a number of areas once considered strongholds of gunmen for years.
Abu Risha, however, was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack that targeted his house in al-Ramadi, capital of the predominantly Sunni Anbar. The attack also left his bodyguard and two other escorts killed and his nephew seriously wounded.
A mix of Sunnis and Shiites, Diala extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi).
In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remnants of al-Qaeda network following the Diala province campaign between 2006 and 2007.
Later on, the Iraqi security forces had launched a wide-scale security campaign in Diala province. The operation, codenamed Bashaer al-Kheir, is aimed at tracking down members of al-Qaeda network in Diala, Iraq’s most restive city, after the armed group lost its strongholds in the western Iraq predominantly Sunni province of al-Anbar, where tribesmen fought its members and flushed them out of the city.
A large portion of the province is drained by the Diala River, a major tributary of the Tigris.
Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diala’s main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large Date Palm groves. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East.
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