Iraq

At least 30 dead in Iraq bomb attack

Article published on the 2008-08-25 Latest update 2008-08-26 08:53 TU

The injured after the attack.
(Photo: REUTERS/Muhannad Faisal)

At least 30 people have been killed after a sucide bomber exploded at a banquet west of Baghdad. Another 42 were wounded in Sunday's attack in Al-Zaidan village in Abu Ghraib district, according to hospital sources. The explosion happened at the home of a tribal sheikh, attended by police and members of the Sunni "Awakening" group, which opposes al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The banquet took place at the home of Aziz Moklif Ghatha al-Zubai, who was among the dead, an Interior Ministry official said on Sunday.

The guests were celebrating the release of a local man from US detention.  

The explosion occurred shortly after US forces announced the aprehension of two alleged al-Qaeda organisers: Salim Abdallah Ashur al-Shujayri, also known as Abu Uthman, and Ali Rash Nasir Jiyad al-Shammari, also known as Abu Tiba.

Associates of al-Shujayri are thought to have been involved in the kidnap and murder of Margaret Hassan, the aid worker seized by insurgents in west Baghdad in October 2004, and the kidnap of Norman Kember, the British peace campaigner.

Al-Qaeda has warned that it would target members of Sunni Awakening groups, supported and financed by the US military. Awakening groups first appeared in the western province of Anbar in 2006 when Sunni tribal leaders first started to turn against the Islamist group.

Local residents say the village used to be an al-Qaeda stronghold until the US military began sponsoring the formation of the groups.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, have announced the arrest of an al-Qaida in Iraq figure who allegedly planned the kidnapping in 2006 of American journalist Jill Carroll.

The journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad but was released after nearly three months in captivity.