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Sunni chiefs killed in Iraq blast | Sunni chiefs killed in Iraq blast |
(10 minutes later) | |
Five Sunni Arab tribal leaders have been killed in a suicide attack in Iraq's Diyala province, police say. | Five Sunni Arab tribal leaders have been killed in a suicide attack in Iraq's Diyala province, police say. |
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt in the house of Sheikh Faez al-Obeidi, killing him and four of his relatives. | A suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt in the house of Sheikh Faez al-Obeidi, killing him and four of his relatives. |
Those killed were members of the Diyala Salvation Council, a group opposed to the presence of al-Qaeda militants in the province, north-east of Baghdad. | Those killed were members of the Diyala Salvation Council, a group opposed to the presence of al-Qaeda militants in the province, north-east of Baghdad. |
Ten others were wounded in the blast, which happened near the town of Khalis. | Ten others were wounded in the blast, which happened near the town of Khalis. |
Diyala province, home to a mixture of Sunnis and Shias, has become a key battleground in the struggle to drive al-Qaeda from Iraq. | |
Until a few months ago, al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni Arab insurgent groups in the province fought together against Iraqi government and US-led forces. | |
But increasing numbers of the militants' former allies in the Sunni community have turned against them, mainly because they dislike the austere form of Islam that they practise. | |
The uprising began in the troubled Anbar province, once a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency, but has since spread to Diyala province and some areas of Baghdad. |