By DPA,
Baghdad : Al Qaeda militants in Iraq Wednesday shot and killed a tribal sheikh, his wife and their son near their home in the northern city of Tikrit, a police official said.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told DPA that the militants apparently wanted to take revenge on Sheikh Ziab Ahmed Ziara.
The sheikh was leader of al-Ahbab tribe in Balad district and had a strong connection with the Awakening Councils, a tribal group who collaborated with the US forces to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq. Al Qaeda militants had killed three members of the sheikh’s family.
Meanwhile in Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad, a bomb ripped through an Iraqi army patrol, killing two soldiers and wounding an officer, a police official told DPA.
Iraqi forces launched an operation in Mosul Feb 20 called al-Amal al-Gidid or “The New Hope”, targeting Al Qaeda militants in the city.