Monday, September 18, 2006
Sunni tribes in Al-Anbar to fight al-Qaeda
Security, Tribal
Sheikh Sattar al-Buzayi summoned around 30 tribal chiefs from across the province last week for a war council at his fortified home in Ramadi to discuss the formation of local security forces to fight al-Qaeda.
A young man who calls himself Abu Farouq, a senior al-Qaeda figure in northern Ramadi, said his fighters want an Islamic caliphate in Anbar. Sheikhs like Buzayi are their enemy. "We have the right to kill all infidels, like the police and army and all those who support them," he told Reuters. "This tribal system is un-Islamic. We are proud to kill tribal leaders who are helping the Americans."
Anbar residents say the towns of Khalidiya and Haditha are effectively controlled by al-Qaeda, who run Islamic courts, force women to wear an Afghan-style burqa and regularly dump bodies of those they call "traitors" and "spies" on the streets. But there are also towns like Qaim on the Syrian border where tribesmen have taken matters into their own hands and thrown the al-Qaeda militants out. Others want to emulate them.
