Monday, March 26, 2007

Sunni deputy PM bombed by insurgents

"One of Iraq's deputy prime ministers was seriously wounded Friday in a bombing that highlighted the ability of insurgents to breach heightened security in the midst of a U.S.-led crackdown in Baghdad.
The attack against Salam Z. al-Zobaee, one of the highest-ranking Sunni Arabs in the Shiite-led government, killed at least six people . . . Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, said at a news conference.
. . . Zobaee, whose lungs and stomach were punctured by shrapnel, underwent surgery at the U.S. military-run Ibn Sina Hospital in the fortified Green Zone, officials said. . . . The Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni insurgent umbrella network that includes the group al-Qaeda in Iraq, asserted responsibility for the attack in an Internet statement [in a translation on the SITE Institute], saying Zobaee was a 'betrayer' for joining the government.
'We ask Allah . . . that this betrayer vagabond who sold his religion and his people for a small price not be safe. We say to all betrayers of the infidel al-Maliki government . . . wait for what will hurt you,' the statement said. . . . The authenticity of the statement could not be confirmed." [1]

"Mr. Zubaie is from a tribe that is part of the Anbar Salvation Council, a group of tribal leaders that has taken a stand against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the most militant of the Sunni groups in the insurgency against the Americans and the Shiite-led Iraqi government." [2]

source
[1] Brulliard, Karin & al-Izzi, Saad. (The Washington Post). Maliki Deputy Wounded in Blast. March 24, 2007.
[2] Rubin, Alissa J. (The New York Times). 9 Die as Assassins’ Blasts Wound Sunni Deputy Premier. March 24, 2007.

posted: monday, march 26, 2007, 9:02 PM ET

update: monday, march 26, 2007, 9:09 PM ET


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