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Gunmen attack sheiks united against al-Qaida

One of the 10 is found dead after the daytime kidnapping in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen in Baghdad snatched 10 Sunni and Shiite tribal sheiks from their cars Sunday as they were heading home to Diyala province after talks with the government on fighting al-Qaida. At least one was later found shot to death.

The bold daylight kidnapping came as the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the threat from the terror network has been "significantly reduced" in the capital.

The two cars carrying the sheiks - seven Sunnis and three Shiites - were ambushed in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaab about 3:30 p.m., police officials said.

The sheiks were returning to Diyala province after attending a meeting with the Shiite-dominated government's adviser for tribal affairs to discuss coordinating efforts against al-Qaida in Iraq, police and a relative said.

Police found the bullet-riddled body of one of the Sunni sheiks, Mishaan Hilan, about 50 yards away from where the ambush took place, an officer said, adding that Hilan was identified after his cell phone was found on him.

A relative of one of the abducted Shiite sheiks blamed Sunni extremists and said the attackers picked a Shiite neighborhood to "create strife between Shiite and Sunni tribes that have united against al-Qaida in the area."

But, Jassim Zeidan al-Anbaqi said, "this will not happen."

The well-planned attack was the latest to target anti-al-Qaida tribal leaders and other officials in an apparent bid to intimidate them from joining the U.S.-sponsored grass roots strategy that the military says has contributed to a recent drop in violence.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Sunday that the threat from al-Qaida in several former strongholds in Baghdad has been greatly reduced but the group remains "a very dangerous and very lethal enemy."

Petraeus said the reduced threat from al-Qaida had given way to nonsectarian crimes: kidnapping, corruption in the oil industry and extortion.

"As the terrible extremist threat of al-Qaida has been reduced somewhat, there is in some Iraqi neighborhoods actually a focus on crime and on extortion that has been ongoing and kidnapping cells and what is almost a Mafia-like presence in certain areas," he said.

Iraq developments

mViolence: A suicide car bomber struck a busy commercial area in the oil-rich, northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding 26, police said. In all, at least 35 people were killed or found dead across the nation.

Attack by Turkey: Attack helicopters buzzed over a region in southeastern Turkey on Sunday looking for Kurdish rebels after troops reportedly killed 15 separatist guerrillas in a morning operation far from the increasingly tense border with Iraq. Turkey has threatened to send troops into Iraq to hunt down the rebels.

Claim by Iran: Iran's foreign minister on Sunday accused the United States and Israel of supporting Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, but his Turkish counterpart distanced himself from the claim, saying he didn't think Washington was behind the Iraq-based rebels.

[Last modified October 29, 2007, 01:06:50]