Blasts kill 6 Iraqi leaders fighting al-Qaeda

A bomb inside the home of a tribal leader spearheading the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq's Diyala province killed the leader and two other people, hours after a similar attack killed another five Sunni leaders in the same province.

The attack took place Friday evening in Sheik Fayez Lafta's home in the mainly Shiite village of Khalis near Baquba, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said Saturday.

The statement, which added that one person was also injured in the bombing, did not identify the nature of the blast nor the identity of the other two people killed.

Also Friday, a suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed five Sunni Arab tribal leaders in Iraq's Diyala province.

Police said the bomber blew himself up in a meeting of local tribal leaders from the area. Those killed were members of the Diyala Salvation Council, a body set up to oppose al-Qaeda in Iraq in the province.

Police added three people were wounded in the attack in the village of Dojemah, near the town of Khalis. Among those killed were the deputy head of the Diyala Salvation Council, Sheikh Faeiz Lefta al-Obaidi.

After tribal leaders largely drove al-Qaeda out of Iraq's
Anbar province, formerly a key stronghold of the insurgency, tribal groups opposed to al-Qaeda militants have sprung up in other areas of Iraq.

Al-Qaeda has warned it will target leaders working alongside the U.S. military against insurgents, and claimed the September 13 car bomb killing of a prominent Sunni tribal leader in Anbar province, Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha.

Diyala, a mixed Shiite and Sunni province northeast of Baghdad, has been among Iraq's most violent areas in recent months. On Oct 29, a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed 30 Iraqi policemen at a base in Diyala, in the deadliest recent suicide bombing in Iraq.