Saturday, May 05, 2007
Tribesmen attacked by suicide bomber
Security
(AFP) - At least 16 Iraqi army recruits were killed Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at their recruitment centre west of Baghdad one day after police found the murdered bodies of seven anti-terrorism officers. Another 21 recruits were wounded in the blast, which took place at an army base in the predominantly Sunni rural tribal area around Abu Ghraib, said a defense ministry official.
Sunni tribesmen that once fought with the insurgency have been increasingly joining the security services at the urging of their elders to restore stability to their strife-ridden lands. Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told reporters Saturday that thanks to the efforts of the tribes, specifically in the western Al-Anbar province, security forces are now on the offensive.
"For the first time in four years the government is giving an offer to the armed groups to lay down their weapons and give themselves up to the government," he said. "Those that have not shed Iraqi blood will be given a general amnesty. We intend to raise the people of the province in the army and police to 21,000 fighters to ensure security there," he said, adding that at the end of 2006, there were 9,000.
Tribes in Iraq's western province of Al-Anbar have banded together and are working with US and Iraqi forces to combat Al-Qaeda and sending people to join the security services to restore stability and hasten the departure of US troops. The fiercely independent Sunni tribesmen also see the advantage of not being patrolled by security forces largely made up of Shiites from elsewhere in the country. Attempts are being made by the US military and Iraqi government to build such tribal alliances elsewhere in the country where the predominantly Sunni insurgency is raging with limited success.
Insurgents, particularly those linked with Al-Qaeda, have struck back hard against the tribes looking to ally with the government. The seven plain clothes police found murdered north of Baghdad in the oil refining town of Baiji on Friday were tribal recruits to Anbar province's special anti-terrorism police unit, a police intelligence captain told AFP on condition of anonymity. The bodies of the policemen, which were riddled with bullets, had been dumped on the roadside.
Sunni tribesmen that once fought with the insurgency have been increasingly joining the security services at the urging of their elders to restore stability to their strife-ridden lands. Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told reporters Saturday that thanks to the efforts of the tribes, specifically in the western Al-Anbar province, security forces are now on the offensive.
"For the first time in four years the government is giving an offer to the armed groups to lay down their weapons and give themselves up to the government," he said. "Those that have not shed Iraqi blood will be given a general amnesty. We intend to raise the people of the province in the army and police to 21,000 fighters to ensure security there," he said, adding that at the end of 2006, there were 9,000.
Tribes in Iraq's western province of Al-Anbar have banded together and are working with US and Iraqi forces to combat Al-Qaeda and sending people to join the security services to restore stability and hasten the departure of US troops. The fiercely independent Sunni tribesmen also see the advantage of not being patrolled by security forces largely made up of Shiites from elsewhere in the country. Attempts are being made by the US military and Iraqi government to build such tribal alliances elsewhere in the country where the predominantly Sunni insurgency is raging with limited success.
Insurgents, particularly those linked with Al-Qaeda, have struck back hard against the tribes looking to ally with the government. The seven plain clothes police found murdered north of Baghdad in the oil refining town of Baiji on Friday were tribal recruits to Anbar province's special anti-terrorism police unit, a police intelligence captain told AFP on condition of anonymity. The bodies of the policemen, which were riddled with bullets, had been dumped on the roadside.
Labels: Abu Ghraib, army recruits, Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf, suicide bomber, Sunni tribesmen
