Iraqi tribes fight Qaeda in west, capture five

RAMADI, Sep 29 (Reuters) Iraqi tribes who have vowed to take on al Qaeda captured five militants today, including three foreign fighters from Yemen, police and tribal leaders said.

The five militants were captured without a fight in a car under a bridge in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, police Major Salam Obeid said. Tribal leader Sheikh Sattar al-Buzayi confirmed the incident.

The province, which makes up a third of Iraq's territory, is the heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency and has been the deadliest region of Iraq for U.S. forces. Osama bin Laden's followers control towns and villages throughout the Euphrates valley from Falluja, near Baghdad, to the Syrian border.

But their violent rule and severe interpretation of Sunni Islam has alienated traditional-minded Sunni tribal leaders.

Buzayi and other sheikhs met Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister this week and pledged their support, while asking for assistance to drive out al Qaeda.

Washington considers this split in the Sunni community an important development that could lead to an alliance against the Islamist militants. U.S. commanders say their 30,000 troops in the province cannot defeat al Qaeda on their own.

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