Two blasts target Iraqi tribal leader, son killed

BAGHDAD, Mar 27 (Reuters) A Sunni Arab tribal leader who has opposed al Qaeda was the target of an attack in Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad involving two blasts that killed his son and three more people today, a provincial official said.

Sheikh Thahir al-Dari's son was among four people killed in a double suicide car bombing, said Ahmed al-Dulaimi, head of the provincial council media office in Anbar.

However, a relative of the sheikh, who is a member of a group of tribes who have formed an alliance against al Qaeda, said the son was killed when a rocket propelled grenade hit the car he was in. Another person was wounded in the car.

Relatives blamed al Qaeda for the attack.

Dari is the head of the al-Zobaie tribe, to which Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie belongs. The deputy prime minister was the target of an assassination bid last week.

Al Qaeda's adherence to a hardline form of Sunni Islam and indiscriminate killings have brought it into conflict with some Sunni tribes in Anbar.

Suicide bombers have targeted a number of tribal leaders in the anti-Qaeda alliance amid a growing struggle in Anbar between the militant group and tribes who oppose it.

Zobaie was wounded in last week's attack at his home in Baghdad.

An aide said that suicide bomber was one of his own guards and said the tribe was itself divided between those loyal to the government and those supporting al Qaeda.

Zobaie's office today said he had recovered and might be discharged from the US military hospital later in the day.

Outgoing US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad yesterday said US and Iraqi officials had held contacts with Sunni Arab insurgent groups to build an alliance against al Qaeda.

REUTERS DKA RK1605