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Iraq
Al Qaeda claims assassination of Sunni lawmaker in Iraq
2013-01-22
[Al Ahram] Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate said it had carried out a suicide kaboom that killed a Sunni Mohammedan politician last week as he toured a construction site in the westerly Anbar province, where Sunnis have been protesting against the government for three weeks.

Members of the Sunni minority accuse the Shi'ite-led government of marginalising them, and the wave of protests has raised fears that the OPEC country could again slide into widespread sectarian conflict.

The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an umbrella group for Al Qaeda-linked Sunni jihad boys, said it was responsible for the liquidation of Efan al-Esawi, describing him as the "dog of the Americans" and the "tail of the Shi'ites".

Esawi was one of the architects of the Sahwa tribal resistance that helped to subdue Al Qaeda-linked cut-throats battling US troops in the Sunni heartland of Anbar at the height of the conflict of the last decade.

Posing as a worker, the attacker hugged Efan al-Esawi before detonating an explosive vest, killing them both on the spot.

"He insisted on his disbelief, treachery and war against Mohammedans ... until he died at the hands of the mujahideen in his current state, to be an example and a lesson for those after him," the US-based SITE Intelligence Group quoted ISI as saying in a statement on Sunday.

The ISI also grabbed credit for other attacks in Anbar province and across the country, without giving details.

On Wednesday more than 35 people died in a suicide kaboom and other bombings in northern Iraq and Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...

Al Qaeda's Iraqi branch also voiced support for the Sunni protests and said it was fighting to "cut off the vein that is extending the life of the criminal Nusayri regime to kill your brothers in the Levant".

In neighbouring Syria, mainly Sunni rebels are fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
, most of whose ruling establishment are members of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite or Nusayri sect, adding to the strain on Iraq's own delicate sectarian and ethnic balance.
Posted by:Fred

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