By NNN-KUNA
Baghdad : A suicide bomber, strapped in a belt of explosives, blew himself up in the midst of a congregation of tribal chiefs in the province of Diyala, north of here, killing at least five of them, police said on Friday.
The explosion occurred at 8:00 p.m. local time and resulted in damaging a number of buildings and the injury of 12 people who were wisked off to hospitals in the city of Baaqouba, 60 km northeast of Baghdad.
One of the dead was identified a leading Iraqi tribal chief Sheikh Fa’ez Al-Ubaidi, the Al-Ubaid tribe chief.
Four people from Al-Ubaid tribe were also killed in the attack, he said.
Coalition forces regretted the death of Al-Ubaidi, who was among the tribesmen fighting hand-in-hand with the Iraqi and coalition troops against Al-Qaeda militants
The suicide bomber sought to target a meeting of the council of the province of Diyala which was attended by 75 tribal chiefs of the province, both Sunni and Shiite, some of them heading separately 18 zone offices of the council all across Diyala.
A similar number of tribal chiefs in the township of al-Khalis repelled Friday an attack by a band of armed gunmen from the al-Qaeda, resulting in the killing of four of the gunmen, three of the tribesmen, and the injury of three bystanders.
The gunmen used light and medium weapons in their assault.