Sunni Security Unit Leader, Colleagues Killed in Attack Encouraged by Bin Laden
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sunni Security Unit Leader, Colleagues Killed in Attack Encouraged by
Bin Laden*
Deadly Fire Erupts at Iraq's Largest Oil Refinery
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 8, 2008; Page A14
BAGHDAD, Jan. 7 -- A suicide bomber killed the leader of a U.S.-backed
neighborhood security force in Baghdad's Adhamiyah district Monday, his
aides said, the latest in a string of attacks against such forces.
The blast, along with a second explosion, killed Col. Riyadh al-Sammarai
and at least 10 others, witnesses said.
The campaign against the so-called Awakening groups began after Osama
bin Laden called on Muslims late last month to attack such "dangerous
conspiracies."
"They are sending a message to the Awakening fighters that we must leave
the movement," said Riyadh Hadi, field commander of the Adhamiyah
Awakening, as he stood among the corpses of his colleagues. "But this
will only increase our will to fight against them more and more."
The attack took place about 10 a.m. as Sammarai was leaving his home in
the compound of the Sunni Endowment, an institution responsible for
overseeing the sect's mosques in Iraq. As he left the Endowment,
employees came up to greet him.
Then a man, whom Sammarai appeared to know, walked up carrying a blanket
and motioned as if he were about to shake Sammarai's hands, said Maj.
Mohanned Hazim, an Iraqi army official at the compound. The man then
detonated his explosives, killing Sammarai, three of his bodyguards and
three Endowment employees, witnesses said.
As more than a dozen wounded were being transported to the hospital, a
second bomb detonated and killed four of the injured, witnesses said.
Other casualty reports varied.
Sammarai, about 47 years old, was recruited last year by the American
military to lead the Awakening group, which includes 700 fighters who
are each paid about $300 a month by the U.S. military, according to
Sammarai's aides.
Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq,
said the spike in attacks carried out recently on the Awakening groups
reflected their success in winning over residents and driving out
insurgents.
"Clearly al-Qaeda is very, very concerned about the Awakening
movements," he said, adding that most of the attacks appeared to have
been carried out by the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq. "That's why
we're now seeing these attacks by Sunnis against Sunnis."
In a 56-minute audio recording released Dec. 29, bin Laden lashed out at
the Awakening groups as "conspiracies that are being weaved against you
by the Zionist-crusader alliance led by America."
Safa Hussein, Iraq's deputy national security adviser, said al-Qaeda in
Iraq is trying to both attack the Awakening and penetrate its ranks.
"Al-Qaeda's policy is in two directions," he said.
"The Sahwa, when they were created, it was a big action, and al-Qaeda
needed some time to respond to it," he said, using the Arab word for
Awakening. "And we all know the people of al-Qaeda are adaptive. But we
think the ultimate outcome is not in their favor."
At least 42 members of Awakening groups have been killed in Diyala
province, northeast of Baghdad, and more than 50 in Sunni-dominated
portions of Babil province, south of Baghdad, security officials said.
Also Monday, a mechanical failure at the nation's largest oil refinery,
in Baiji, sparked massive fires that killed one person and wounded at
least three, the U.S. military said. Bilal Mohammed, an engineer at the
refinery, said nine workers were burned in the fire, which took three
hours to extinguish.
Correspondent Joshua Partlow and special correspondents Zaid Sabah,
Dalya Hassan, Saad al-Izzi and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad, Saad Sarhan in
Najaf and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.