{"id":568,"date":"2010-07-19T11:35:07","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T11:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/?p=568"},"modified":"2010-07-19T11:35:07","modified_gmt":"2010-07-19T11:35:07","slug":"suicide-bombers-target-iraq-militia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2010\/07\/19\/568\/","title":{"rendered":"Suicide bombers target Iraq militia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-left: 5px; float: right;\" alt=\"iraq-sahwat\" src=\"images\/stories\/news\/iraq-sahwat.jpg\" width=\"229\" height=\"171\" \/>Twin suicide bombings killed at least 47 people in Iraq on Sunday, Iraqi police told Al Jazeera. The bombings were the deadliest in a series of attacks across the country that were aimed at the Sunni Sahwa militia, also known as Awakening Councils, that work with government forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.<\/div>\n<p>  <!--more-->  <\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first attack Sunday morning killed at least 44 people and wounded more than 40, including dozens from the gouvernment-backed Sahwa militia lining up to collect their paychecks near a military base southwest of Baghdad.<br \/>In a seperate incident, a suicide bomber stormed a local Sahwa headquarters in the far western town Qaim, near the Syrian border, and opened fire on those inside.<br \/>The Sahwa fighters returned fire, wounding the attacker, who then blew himself up as they gathered around him, killing three and wounding six others, police officials said.<br \/>The Sahwa militia took up arms against al-Qaeda in late 2006 with US backing.<br \/>Its fighters, recruited from among tribesmen and former anti-government fighters, are credited with turning the tide in the war against al-Qaeda in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;More dead than wounded&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Control of the Sahwa passed to Iraq in October 2008, and their wages &#8211; said to have been cut from $300 under US leadership to $100 monthly &#8211; have been paid, often late, by the Shia-led government. \u00a0<br \/>The attack in Baghdad took place as Sahwa fighters gathered outside a military base to collect their pay.<br \/>&#8220;There were more than 150 people sitting on the ground when the explosion<br \/>took place. I ran, thinking that I was a dead man,&#8221; Uday Khamis, 24, who was sitting outside the Mahmoudiyah hospital where many of the wounded were taken, said.<br \/>His left hand was bandaged and his clothes were stained with blood.<br \/>&#8220;There were more dead than wounded,&#8221; he said.<br \/>It was unclear how many of the dead were members of the militia, Iraqi troops or civilian accountants handing out money.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sunni fighters targeted<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A military official at the base said the explosion was the work of one suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest.<br \/>&#8220;The suicide bomber blew himself up in the biggest group of Sahwa members. We generally let them enter the base in groups of 10 for them to get their salaries,&#8221; the AFP news agency quoted a military official, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying.<br \/>In the past six months many Sahwa fighters and members of their families have been killed in revenge attacks.<br \/>&#8220;They have been often targeted in recent months for their role in combating al-Qaeda and other Sunni fighters,&#8221; Al Jazeera&#8217;s Rawya Rageh, reporting from Baghdad, said.<br \/>The attacks have not been claimed yet, but &#8220;all fingers are going to be pointed at al-Qaeda in Iraq at this point,&#8221; Rageh said.<br \/>Four months after an inconclusive parliamentary election in March, Iraq has yet to form a new government as politicians bicker over who will lead it.<br \/>Analysts say the political vacuum is fuelling instability and various armed groups are exploiting it to their advantage.<\/p>\n<p>Source: Al Jazeera and agencies<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twin suicide bombings killed at least 47 people in Iraq on Sunday, Iraqi police told Al Jazeera. The bombings were the deadliest in a series of attacks across the country that were aimed at the Sunni Sahwa militia, also known as Awakening Councils, that work with government forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Suicide bombers target Iraq militia - SunniOnline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2010\/07\/19\/568\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suicide bombers target Iraq militia - SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Twin suicide bombings killed at least 47 people in Iraq on Sunday, Iraqi police told Al Jazeera. 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