BAGHDAD – Two Sunni leaders who took public stances against al-Qaida in Iraq were attacked Saturday, in a sign the terror network may ramp up retaliation against local chiefs who oppose it.
Meanwhile, a powerful roadside bomb killed the governor and police chief of a southern province that has been torn by fierce fighting between Shiite factions. The country’s prime minister urged residents to show restraint and not launch reprisals.
The flurry of attacks hinted at the complex challenges facing Iraq, from both Shiite militias and Sunni extremists, who often target not just Americans but also their own sects in vicious internal battles.
The United States has pointed to an anti-al-Qaida alliance of local Sunni leaders as a sign of turnaround, but the attacks showed the high risks local leaders face by joining.
In one, militants bombed the northern Baghdad home of a moderate and highly regarded Sunni cleric, Sheik Wathiq al-Obeidi, who had recently spoken against al-Qaida. He was seriously wounded and three relatives were killed.
A Sunni insurgent umbrella group threatened al-Obeidi on Tuesday, calling him a traitor and accusing him of working with the U.S.-backed alliance of Sunni tribal leaders, who are fighting al-Qaida in western Iraq.
Followers denied the cleric was linked to the alliance in Anbar province, but he issued his own call against al-Qaida last week during a funeral prayer for two nephews believed killed by extremists.
“We have to fight foreign fighters in our city,” witnesses quoted him as saying. “We have to fight those linked to al-Qaida.”
In the second attack, a local tribal leader in Albu Khalifa, a village west of Baghdad, was gunned down by militants who broke into his home late Saturday, police said.
Sheik Fawaq Sadda’ al-Khalifawi had recently joined the anti-al-Qaida alliance in Anbar, said a police officer in the town of Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad.
The attacks came as Iraq’s politics have remain stalled between the Shiite-led government and Sunnis suspicious that the government favors Shiite militias backed by Iran.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, returning from a trip to Iran, said Iran seeks more talks with the United States on stabilizing Iraq.
“I found a desire in Iran for much more dialogue with the Americans on fighting terrorism,” the prime minister said.
Al-Maliki reached out to other neighbors, too, saying his country wants to repair relations with Syria, Kuwait and Iran that were “broken by the previous regime.” But al-Maliki did not mention Saudi Arabia, a Sunni-led country furious with what it sees as the Shiite bias of al-Maliki’s government.
Separately, the U.S. military on Saturday reported the death of a soldier in Tikrit in a non-combat incident.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was in Iraq to meet with officials reforming the country’s legal system, but the embattled Gonzales – criticized at home from Democrats – had no public meetings.
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