Six sheikhs among Iraq hotel dead-US military

BAGHDAD, June 25 (Reuters) Up to six important Sunni tribal leaders opposed to al Qaeda could be among those killed in a suicide bombing in the lobby of a busy Baghdad hotel today, the US military said.

''According to initial reports, six sheikhs are among the dead,'' Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, told Reuters.

US soldiers were at the hotel, he said, where Sunni Arab tribal leaders from western Anbar province had gathered for a meeting.

REUTERS SKB PM1636