Baghdad – Suicide bombers killed 13 people in a pair of attacks Monday around the Sunni city of Ramadi in what local officials said was part of a power struggle between al-Qaeda and tribes that have broken with the terror network.
In all, at least 68 people were killed or found dead nationwide Monday, police said. They included the bullet-riddled bodies of 30 men found in Baghdad – the apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
All but two were found in west Baghdad, including 17 in the Amil neighborhood where Sunni politicians have complained of renewed attacks by Shiite militiamen, according to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release those details.
The Ramadi attacks occurred in areas controlled by the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of Sunni tribes formed last year to drive al-Qaeda from the area. Council officials blamed the attacks on al-Qaeda.
“They committed this crime because we have identified their hide-outs and we are chasing them,” said Sheik Jabbar Naif al-Dulaimi.
In a Web statement Monday, an al-Qaeda front organization, the Islamic State of Iraq, warned Sunnis against joining the government security forces.
The Islamic State also claimed responsibility Monday for attacks that killed 34 people over the weekend – including six U.S. soldiers and an embedded Russian photojournalist who died in a roadside bombing in Baqubah.
Dmitry Chebotayev, 27, was on assignment for Russian Newsweek, editor Leonid Parfyonov said.
At least five al-Qaeda fighters were killed in the fighting in Samarra, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details of the attack.
Also Monday, the military announced a U.S. soldier had been killed by small-arms fire in western Baghdad the day before, bringing to nine the number of troops who died Sunday.
As of Monday, at least 3,374 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The security situation in the capital figured high in talks between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush, who conferred Monday in a video conference, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Al-Maliki told Bush of the need to maintain cooperation between U.S. and Iraqi forces as they continue their crackdown, which is intended to end the chaos and violence in Baghdad, the statement said.
The international Red Cross announced Monday it would increase its operations to provide food, water and medical treatment for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled their homes but remain in the country.
Jordan said Monday that the more than 750,000 displaced Iraqis residing in the country has cost the government $1 billion a year and increased Jordan’s population by 14 percent.
