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| Iraqi insurgents kill key US ally | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A key Sunni ally of the US and Iraqi governments has been killed in a bomb attack in the city of Ramadi, Iraqi police and media say. | |
| Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was the leader of an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that rejected al-Qaeda because of its methods and worked with the US. | |
| He was killed in a bomb attack near his home in Iraq's western Anbar province. | |
| Abu Risha was among a group of tribal leaders who met President George W Bush during his visit to Iraq last week. | Abu Risha was among a group of tribal leaders who met President George W Bush during his visit to Iraq last week. |
| "The sheikh's car was totally destroyed by the explosion. Abu Risha was killed and two of his bodyguards were seriously wounded," Ramadi police officer Ahmed Mahmoud al-Alwani told Reuters. | |
| Abu Risha was the leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar Awakening, an alliance of clans which sided with US forces and the Iraqi government in order to try to reclaim Anbar province from al-Qaeda. | |
| The US has been trying to organise Sunni groups against al-Qaeda. | |
| Washington has celebrated Abu Risha and his tribal fellows, saying they have inflicted considerable losses and setbacks on the insurgent group. |