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| Iraq |
| 4 Sahwa fighters killed, injured by al-Qaeda in Diala |
| 2008-05-27 |
| (VOI) - One Sahwa (Awakening) fighter was killed and three more were wounded on Monday in clashes with al-Qaeda gunmen in northeast Baaquba city, a security source said. "Armed clashes broke out between Sahwa fighters and al-Qaeda gunmen in Shirween villages in al-Mansoriya region inside al-Muqdadiya district, northeast of Baaquba," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI) on condition of anonymity. "One fighter was killed and three others were wounded," he noted, adding no further details. 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. |
| Posted by:Fred |