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Official: Militants loyal to al Qaeda attack Shiite villages
* Story Highlights
* NEW: Attacks led to deaths of more than a dozen people, source said
* Bombs, gunfights leave at least 14 dead in in Baghdad, Tuz Khurmatu
* U.S. military says it arrested suspect in last week's slaying of
pro-U.S. sheik
* Bloc loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr abandons Shiite political
alliance
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Dozens of Islamic militants loyal to al Qaeda
attacked Shiite Muslim villages north of Baghdad around dawn Sunday,
killing more than a dozen people, an Interior Ministry official said.
Iraqi troops and police arrived and chased off the militants, the
official said.
Also Sunday, Shiite Police Col. Karim Abdul Hussein was gunned down
near his home in Afak, east of the southern provincial capital of
Diwaniya.
The asassination comes five weeks after a bombing that killed the
province's governor and police chief, along with three bodyguards.
Diyala has been the scene of sometimes-intense fighting between Shiite
factions in recent months, and coalition forces have taken on militia
fighters in Diwaniya.
Eight more people were killed and 14 were wounded in a gun battle in
western Baghdad, and other attacks left at least seven people dead
nationwide.
The al Qaeda raids targeted two villages about 25 miles (40
kilometers) north of Baquba. The fundamentalist Sunni fighters, armed
with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, struck about 6 a.m. Sunday
(10 p.m. Saturday ET).
The Sunni fighters killed 14 people, including three children, wounded
10 others and set 12 houses ablaze, the Interior Ministry official said.
Villagers fought back for about an hour before Iraqi police and army
units joined the battle, but there were no casualties reported among
the attackers. The jihadists retreated into the countryside with
government troops in pursuit after reinforcements arrived, the
official said.
In the Baghdad gun battle, which was between security forces and
unidentified gunmen, eight people were killed and 14 wounded, most of
them civilians, an Interior Ministry official said.
Details were sketchy, but the official said witnesses told police that
the security forces involved appeared to be Westerners driving sport
utility vehicles, which are usually used by Western companies.
The clash occurred near Nisoor square, in western Baghdad.
In addition, one person was killed and seven wounded in a car bomb in
the Mansour district, also on Baghdad's west side, the official said.
And in eastern Baghdad, a mortar round killed one person and wounded
three others when it landed near Shaab stadium Sunday morning.
In northern Iraq, five people died and 22 were wounded when a suicide
bomber detonated his explosives vest in a popular restaurant in Tuz
Khurmatu, a mainly Turkmen town about 106 miles (170 kilometers) north
of Baghdad, a Kirkuk police official told CNN.
Suspect nabbed in sheik slaying
Coalition forces arrested a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq insurgent they
say is linked to last week's assassination of a Sunni sheik who had
been helping U.S. forces battle the terrorist organization in Anbar
province, the U.S. military said Sunday.
Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli, also known as Abu Khamis, was
captured Saturday during a raid on three buildings west of Balad, the
military said.
"When the buildings were secure, one of the residents positively
identified al-Jumayli," the military said, adding that three
additional suspects also were detained.
Al-Jumayli has been linked to plots to kill Anbar's key tribal leaders
who are "committed to driving al Qaeda in Iraq out," the military said.
Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha, the 39-year-old head of the Anbar Salvation
Council, was killed Thursday when a roadside bomb detonated near his
home in Ramadi, Iraqi officials said. At least two of Reesha's
bodyguards also died in the blast, officials said.
The Anbar Salvation Council -- also known as Anbar Awakening -- is a
coalition of tribes working with the U.S. military to counter al Qaeda
influence in the Sunni-dominated province. VideoWatch how U.S. forces
are tracking and attacking insurgents from the sky »
Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the sheik's assassination
in a message posted on an Islamist Web site.
"Your brothers in the security ministry of the Islamic State of Iraq
have assassinated the imam of the infidels and of the apostasy, Abdul
Sattar Abu Reesha, one of the dogs carrying Bush's flag," the
statement says.
CNN could not confirm the authenticity of the statement. Islamic State
of Iraq is an umbrella group for several terrorist organizations,
including al Qaeda in Iraq.
Anbar Awakening, an outfit funded and supported by Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki, was formed last year. Al-Maliki blamed al Qaeda in Iraq for
Reesha's killing.
Sadrist bloc leaves Shiite alliance
The political bloc led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
withdrew from the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite bloc that leads
the Iraqi government, a spokesman for al-Sadr said.
Parties within the alliance are "working for their own interests" by
pursuing government posts instead of the people's agenda, said
spokesman Salah al-Obeidi.
The decision was announced Saturday evening in Najaf after members of
the Sadrist bloc met with members of the Fadhila party, which withdrew
from the UIA in March.
Al-Sadr's group will now begin forming political alliances with groups
that share its goals, al-Obeidi said.
The UIA initially was made up of four Shiite factions -- the Sadr
group, the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, the Dawa Party and the
Fadhila Party -- and held 130 seats in the 275-member parliament.
That number dropped to 115 when the Fadhila Party left. The Sadr bloc
has 30 seats in parliament, which were not affected by the withdrawal.
In April, al-Sadr ordered six Cabinet ministers from his bloc to leave
the government after al-Maliki rejected a timetable for the withdrawal
of U.S.-led troops.
Al-Sadr's movement controls the ministries of Health, Agriculture,
Province Affairs, Transportation, Tourism and Civil Society Organizations.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
All AboutMuqtada al-Sadr Al Qaeda in Iraq Iraq War
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