Female Bomber Kills Anti-Qaeda Sunni Sheik

Diyala-area Awakening leader hit in attack
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2008 7:17 AM CDT
Female Bomber Kills Anti-Qaeda Sunni Sheik
Men transport the body of the Sunni Sheikh killed by a female suicide bomber in Baqouba, Iraq, Monday, March 10, 2008. A female suicide bomber on Monday killed the head of a local group of Sunni fighters Sheik Thaeir Ghadhban al-Karkhi. The woman, wearing an explosives belt, entered al-Karkhi's home...   (Associated Press)

A female suicide bomber assassinated a Sunni Awakening leader in his Diyala province home today, the AP reports, killing the sheik’s bodyguard, cousin, and 5-year-old niece along with him. The woman had come to see the sheik yesterday, saying her husband had been kidnapped and was begging for help. “She came back this morning and nobody checked her,” the sheik’s brother said.

The woman was ushered into the house, and blew up the explosives belt she was wearing as soon as she was within sight of the leader. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Diyala is one of the most volatile regions of Iraq, where American-funded Sunni Awakening councils have taken up arms against al-Qaeda in Iraq. (More Iraq stories.)

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