Bomb Kills Sunni Sheik Working With U.S. in Iraq

By ALISSA J. RUBIN and GRAHAM BOWLEY

BAGHDAD, Sept. 13 — The leader of local Sunni tribes in Iraq who have joined American and Iraqi forces in fighting extremist Sunni militants was killed by a bomb today, Iraqi police officials said, potentially undermining what has become a new thrust of United States policy in the country.

The Sunni leader, Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, led the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of clans supporting the Iraqi government and American forces. Initial reports suggested he was killed either by a bomb in his car or by a roadside bomb close to his car near his home in Anbar Province, the sprawling region west of Baghdad.

Sheik Abdul Sattar, as he was known to Iraqis and American commanders, had become the public face of the Sunni Arab tribes in lawless Anbar Province who turned against the Sunni jihadists of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and began to fighton the side of the Shiite-led Iraqi government and the American military.

In President Bush’s trip last week to Iraq, he visited Anbar rather than Baghdad and forcefully directed attention at the security gains the growing alliance between American and tribal forces had brought. Sheik Abdul Sattar was among the tribal leaders who met with him on Sept. 3 at al-Asad Air Base in Anbar, the AP reported. He was the latest and most significant of sheiks leading that effort to be killed, and his death comes as President Bush prepares to discuss his Iraq strategy in a nationwide address this evening.

Recently the council had begun to reach out to other tribes to bring them into working with the American and Iraqi government, and had met recently with southern Shia tribes.

His death could be a significant setback for American efforts to work more closely with local tribes against Al Qaeda.

Authorities imposed a state of emergency in Anbar Province following his assassination, police officials said. At least one other person escorting him was also killed in the explosion.

“This action makes a crack and makes it a mess for all those who wanted to be aligned with him,” Salim al-Jubori, a spokesman for the largest Sunni Arab block in the Iraqi Parliament, said. “I believe there are other leaders who will take this on, but this is not easy.”

The progress in Anbar has been one of the rare bright spots for the American military. Just last year some senior military officers had all but given up on bringing security to Anbar. But since then, the Sunni sheiks banded together to fight militants loyal to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and supply young men to the police, an effort that brought a significant turnabout and has allowed the American military to claim some success.

In June, a suicide bomber assassinated four Sunni sheiks who were cooperating with Americans in Anbar Province, detonating an explosive belt inside a large Baghdad hotel.