BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two Sunni tribesmen who joined forces against al-Qaeda in Iraq, killing at least 50 people Thursday and reinforcing fears that insurgents are hitting back after American-led crackdowns.
The spike in bloodshed this week adds to the other worries: violent rivalries among Shiites and persistent cracks in the Iraqi security forces.
The attack Thursday happened in the town of Albu Mohammad, about 90 miles north of Baghdad. A suicide bomber in traditional Arab robes passed unsearched by guards into a tent of mourners. The occasion was a funeral for two brothers who belonged to the local Awakening Council and who were killed in an attack a day earlier. Awakening Councils are Sunni tribal groups that have turned against al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Insurgents also struck against Awakening Council members in Baghdad. Two council members were gunned down Thursday in the Sunni district of Azamiyah. Hours later in the same area, five council members and a civilian were killed by a roadside bomb. And the head of the Awakening Council in the southern Baghdad area of Dora was killed by gunmen who sprayed his car with bullets. His son was wounded, police said.
The violence came two days after suicide bombings in four cities of northern and central Iraq killed 60 people — attacks that U.S. officials blamed on al-Qaeda in Iraq.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said such attacks do not detract from a markedly improved overall situation. “We have said all along that there will be variants in which we will see al-Qaeda and other groups seek to reassert themselves,” Bergner said Wednesday.
The troubles on the Shiite front could be more dangerous. An offensive that began March 25 in Basra by Iraqi forces against Shiite militants — particularly from Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army — touched off an uprising by Shiite militias across southern Iraq and in Baghdad’s Sadr City.
The Iraqi government has acknowledged that during the Basra fighting, at least 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and police deserted or refused to fight. But details from an Iraqi army colonel in Basra suggested the problems were deeper.
The desertions came in the army’s 14th Division, which is mainly composed of troops from Basra, the colonel said. Two brigades of about 600 troops each — about 40 percent of the division’s forces involved in the operation — refused to fight, as did most of Basra province’s 11,000 police forces. The colonel spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity.
