(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-18 09:37

BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two Sunni tribesmen who joined forces against al-Qaida in Iraq, killing at least 50 people Thursday and reinforcing fears that insurgents are hitting back after American-led crackdowns.

The sudden spike in bloodshed this week adds to the other worries now piling up in Iraq: violent rivalries among Shiites and persistent cracks in the Iraqi security forces.

Residents observe the scene of an overnight airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, April 17, 2008. [Agencies]

Violence across the country has declined since seven months ago, including dramatic suicide bombings like Thursday's funeral attack. American officials credit the change to the US troop buildup and the rise of Sunni tribal groups known as Awakening Councils that have turned against al-Qaida-linked militants. A truce called last year by anti-US Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has also helped.

But the new bloodshed highlights how fragile those gains are.

Thursday's attack happened in the town of Albu Mohammad, about 90 miles north of Baghdad. A suicide bomber dressed in traditional Arab robes passed unsearched by guards into a tent of mourners. The occasion was a funeral for two brothers who belonged to the local Awakening Council and who were killed in an attack a day earlier.

The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body, killing at least 50 people and wounding dozens more, said police in the nearby city of Kirkuk.

"I first heard a thunderous explosion and when I turned my eyes to the tent I saw fire and smoke coming out," said Sheik Omar al-Azawi, an Awakening Council member who arrived at the funeral just before the blast. "Panicked people were jumping and running on all sides."

Insurgents also struck against Awakening Council members in Baghdad on Thursday. Two council members were gunned down in the Sunni district of Azamiyah. Hours later in the same area, five council members and a civilian were killed by a roadside bomb. And the head of the Awakening Council in the southern Baghdad area of Dora was killed by gunmen who sprayed his car with bullets, also wounding his son, police said.

The violence came two days after a string of suicide bombings in four cities of northern and central Iraq killed 60 people -- attacks that US officials blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq.

There have been other sporadic bursts of dramatic attacks blamed on al-Qaida or other Sunni insurgents in past several months. It is unknown whether this week's violence signals that al-Qaida in Iraq has been able to reorganize after blows suffered from the US troop surge and the Awakening Councils.

Death rates began declining significantly around September 2007 and reached an average low of 20 Iraqis killed per day in January, according to an Associated Press count. But since then, the levels have steadily climbed to an average of 41 reported killed per day last month.

   1 2   

   1 2