The US military in Iraq said it has captured an insurgent believed linked to the killing of a Sunni tribal leader, as violence killed at least 20 people yesterday after al-Qaeda warned of a bloody Ramadan.
The suspected al-Qaeda fighter was detained near Balad north of Baghdad on Saturday, two days after Sheikh Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was killed in a car bomb near his home in western Anbar Province, a military statement said.
Abu Risha, a Sunni sheikh, had spearheaded the fight against al-Qaeda in Anbar and was a key ally of the US in its battle against the Iraqi affiliate of Osama bin Laden's jihadist network.
The US military named the detained Iraqi man as Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli and said he had also been involved in a plot to kill tribal leaders in Anbar.
"He is also reportedly responsible for car bomb and suicide vest attacks in Anbar Province, and is closely allied with senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in the region," the statement said.
The Islamic State of Iraq, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for Abu Risha's killing in an Internet statement on Friday, and warned it would target all Sunni leaders who support US troops in Iraq.
It also vowed a new offensive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In Baghdad, the relative calm which had prevailed since the holy month began on Thursday was shattered when a car bomb ripped through crowds outside an electrical goods shopping mall yesterday, killing two people and wounding seven, security and medical officials said.
Insurgents then opened fire on security forces as they rushed to the scene in the mainly Sunni area of Mansour, the officials said. Seven civilians were killed and 12 wounded in the firefights.
Iraq's political landscape too was looking rocky yesterday, following the defection of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's political movement from the ruling Shiite coalition head by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
A senior Sadr official said the decision to withdraw the bloc's 32 MPs from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) -- announced late on Saturday -- was not aimed, however, at ousting the beleaguered premier.
"We have absolutely no intention of pushing Prime Minister Maliki out," Liwa Sumaysim, head of the political committee of the Sadr group, said in Najaf.
Other Sadr officials complained that Maliki had stopped consulting them over decisions and ordered an inquiry into the movement's Mahdi Army militia, widely blamed for violence during a Shiite pilgrimage in the shrine city of Karbala last month that killed 52 people.
Abbas al-Bayati, a Turkmen Shiite lawmaker and member of the UIA, said the alliance would try to persuade the Sadr bloc to return.
"We will not neglect the Sadr movement and will keep open channels of dialogue with them to listen to them and understand the reasons for their withdrawal," he said.
The UIA initially comprised four key Shiite factions -- the Sadr group, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), the Dawa party and the Fadhila party -- and held 130 of the 275 seats in parliament.
However, the number dropped to 115 when the Fadhila party pulled out in March. The Sadr bloc has 32 seats in parliament.
Maliki's government can now only count on the support of 136 lawmakers, including 53 from two Kurdish groups.
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