(KUNA) -- Chief of the Marsoumi tribe was assassinated on Friday by unknown militants in the Doura district, southern Baghdad, the interior ministry said. An Interior Ministry source said the chief, Sheikh Turki Abduljabbar Al-Tayef, was stopped while driving and his car was showered with bullets, killing him and seriously wounding two of his bodyguards.The Marsoumi tribe is one of the most prominent Sunni tribes in Iraq, and the assassination coincided with the declaration of tribes in the Anbar and Saladin provinces war against militant groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and responsible for killing thousands of civilians.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Iraqi armed forces Brigadier Qasem Al-Moussawi said some 60 militants were arrested in the Diyala province, northeastern Baghdad. He said in a statement that one of those arrested, Atta Hadi Al-Saadoun, was accused of forcing families to abandon their homes in the Diyal village of Khan Bani Saad.