(KUNA) -- Armed confrontations broke out between tribes of Al-Anbar and members of Al-Qaeda, Al-Iraqiya state television reported on Friday. The television quoted Al-Anbar Rescue Council as saying that tribemen were engaged in armed confrontation with members of Al-Qaeda, but did not give details on causalities nor the exact location.Al-Anabr Rescue Council had recently been formed with the membership of chiefs of Iraqi tribes and took upon itself to hunt down members of Al-Qaeda in Al-Anbar, western Iraq. Iraqi Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier Qasem Al-Moussawi said Iraqi forces would support the Council in its fight against Al-Qaeda in line with directions of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Tribal chiefs had met with Al-Maliki yesterday and expressed support for his government, calling upon members of tribes to join police forces to bring security to their areas.
Meanwhile, Al-Anbar tribal chiefs' spokesman Sheikh Abulsattar Albureesha warned Al-Qaeda's new leader in Iraq Abu Hamza Al-Muhajer that he would be killed on the hands of Al-Anbar's tribes after statements he made yesterday saying his organization had pardoned their chiefs. Albureesha said, "We challenge Al-Qaeda and its leader Abu Hamza Al-Muhajer and all of his thugs." Abu Hamza had said that he had "pardoned" all chiefs of Al-Anbar's tribes who would no longer cooperate with the Iraqi government and join the militant forces.
He mocked the "pardon" of chiefs saying, "He is the one who is wanted by us and we will kill him in retaliation for his killing of the Sheikhs of Deleim ... How can he pardon us when we are in our own territory?" Moreover, he said that all "thugs" working with Abu Hamza would face death on the hands of Al-Anbar's tribes.