Iraq Bomber Attacks Sunni Militant Group

10/26/2007

BAGHDAD (AP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up near the headquarters of a nationalistic Sunni insurgent group that has turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, killing a woman on her way to the market Friday and wounding four other people, police said.

The attacker detonated his explosives belt after he was unable to get through the main gate of the headquarters of the 1920s Revolution Brigades in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The group is a loose network of Saddam Hussein loyalists that recently broke with al-Qaida and has seen several members join forces with the U.S. against the terror network as part of a power struggle in Diyala province.

One woman was killed and three others were seriously wounded in the blast, which struck as they were passing by on their way to the market, a police officer said.

Witnesses told police that the bomber was a young man who ran toward the main gate and blew himself up after he was barred from entry. A member of the Revolution Brigades also was wounded, the officer said.

Elsewhere in Diyala, a bomb exploded near a village south of Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, killing a farmer and wounding two others, police said.

A roadside bomb also struck a police patrol in the Daghara area, about 12 miles north of the mainly Shiite city of Diwaniyah, killing two officers and wounding three others, a police official said.

Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, has seen fierce clashes between Shiite factions in recent months and violence also has targeted U.S.-led and Iraq security forces.

October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in Iraqi civilian deaths. American commanders credit increasing local Iraqi opposition to Sunni and Shiite extremists.

The current pace of civilian deaths would put October at less than 900, with Iraqis killed in war-related violence at an average of 30 a day, according to an Associated Press tally. That's less than the nearly 34 a day in September, and far less than nearly 64 in August.

The total civilian deaths figure last month was 1,023 and for August, 1,956, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

The AP tally is compiled from hospital, police and military officials, as well as accounts from reporters and photographers. Insurgent deaths are not included. Other counts differ and some have given higher civilian death tolls.

A representative of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, meanwhile, warned during his Friday sermon that a freeze on Shiite militia activities could be lifted if U.S. and Iraqi forces continue detaining members of the movement.

Sheik Assad al-Nasseri also complained that an agreement to end violence between followers of al-Sadr and rival Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim had failed to yield tangible results.

"The reconciliation between the Sadrist movement and other sides did not have any noticeable effect except in some press statements," al-Nasseri said during Friday prayers in the holy city of Kufa.

On Wednesday, al-Sadr renewed his appeal to his followers to uphold the six-month cease-fire announced in August and threatened to expel those who do not.

His office in the holy city of Najaf said the statement was issued in response to questions from supporters about whether the order to stand down still applied, even as U.S. forces appear to have escalated their campaign against what the military calls Iranian-backed breakaway militia factions, and clashes between Shiite groups are on the rise in parts of the mainly Shiite south.

Al-Nasseri acknowledged the raids had angered many in the ranks and warned the freeze could be lifted.

"It was one decision which could end in one minute and then they will be sorry," he told worshippers in the Kufa mosque.

He also accused the security forces of killing civilians during operations, singling out recent crackdowns against rival militia fighters in Diwaniyah and the holy city of Karbala.

"The detention campaigns against al-Sadr's people were not conducted according to issued arrest warrants as they claim," he said. "This issue went so far as to assault women and children in front of husbands, brothers and fathers. These are shameful things. ... They are more unjust to us than the Saddamists."