Iraqi rebels in western city turn against Qaeda
BAGHDAD, Tuesday (Reuters) Iraqi nationalist rebels in the Sunni Arab
city of Ramadi have turned against their former al Qaeda allies after a
bomb attack this month killed 80 people.
Residents said on Monday at least three prominent figures on both
sides were killed in tit-for-tat assassinations after local insurgent
groups formed an alliance against al Qaeda, blaming it for massacring
police recruits in Ramadi on Jan. 5.
In Baghdad, bomb blasts killed five Iraqi policemen and a U.S.
soldier despite a security clampdown on the capital to thwart attacks by
Sunni Arab rebels angry over election results.
The attacks took place the day before the trial of Saddam Hussein was
due to resume.
The Ramadi bloodshed, which one resident described as "all-out war",
has taken place as political parties prepare for talks on forming a
coalition government the United States hopes will undermine support for
a Sunni Arab insurgency.
Since U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated
government in 2003, disparate Iraqi groups have made common cause with
foreign Islamists like al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
seeking to force out U.S. troops and bring down the U.S.-backed
government of Shi'ites and Kurds. But there are signs that their goals
may be diverging, with some nationalists seeing political negotiation in
Baghdad as a way of attaining some of their goals.
Despite increased security throughout Baghdad, a suicide car bomber
struck a checkpoint into the Green Zone government compound, close to
the Iranian embassy, killing two policemen and a television sports
journalist.
Bombs killed two more policemen and a U.S. soldier in four other
attacks in the capital. Several mortar bombs fell short of the Green
Zone into a park that also houses Baghdad zoo and an amusement park.
Police said no one was injured.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said a security clampdown in the capital was
still in force, amid fears of a spike in insurgent violence as political
parties gear up for negotiations on a coalition government of national
unity. |