Suicide bomb attack at funeral kills 12 in Iraq
2 Dec 2013 6:22 AM IST
A suicide bombing at the funeral of the son of a tribal leader and anti-Al Qaeda militiaman killed 12 people and wounded 25 others in central Iraq on Sunday, officials said.
The funeral had been for Mudher al-Shallal al-Araki, who was killed in a roadside bombing near his family’s home in the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, the previous evening, according to a police colonel and Hussein al-Tamimi from a nearby hospital. The blast struck at the graveyard where the procession, which included relatives and members of the family’s tribe, was due to bury the body. Araki had been a fighter in the Sahwa, the militia formed of Sunni tribesmen that, from late 2006 began siding with US forces against their co-religionists in Al Qaeda, helping turn the tide of Iraq’s insurgency. But Sunni militants regard them as traitors and often target them for attacks. Baquba is the capital of confessionally-mixed Diyala province.
The funeral had been for Mudher al-Shallal al-Araki, who was killed in a roadside bombing near his family’s home in the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, the previous evening, according to a police colonel and Hussein al-Tamimi from a nearby hospital. The blast struck at the graveyard where the procession, which included relatives and members of the family’s tribe, was due to bury the body. Araki had been a fighter in the Sahwa, the militia formed of Sunni tribesmen that, from late 2006 began siding with US forces against their co-religionists in Al Qaeda, helping turn the tide of Iraq’s insurgency. But Sunni militants regard them as traitors and often target them for attacks. Baquba is the capital of confessionally-mixed Diyala province.
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