BAGHDAD, 25 September 2007 — A suicide bomber struck a reconciliation meeting of Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders and senior provincial officials in Baquba yesterday, killing at least 20 people, including the city’s police chief, security officials said.
A witness said most of the people killed or wounded were in the mosque yard washing their hands or drinking tea after taking a break from the meeting for the iftar banquet, the daily meal to break the sunrise-to-sunset fast during Ramadan.
The bombing, which bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was a challenge to the US strategy of turning members of both Islamic sects against extremists in a bid to duplicate the success in Anbar province to the west of the capital.
Baquba’s police chief Brig. Gen. Ali Dalyan and the Diyala provincial operations chief Brig. Gen. Najib Al-Taie were near the bomber and were among the 15 killed, according to the security and health officials.
Police Maj. Salah Al-Jurani, who was in the mosque, told the Associated Press that the bomber apparently was targeting the provincial governor because he tried to enter the mosque immediately after the official’s entourage.
Gov. Raad Mullah Jawad was wounded and his driver was killed in the attack, Al-Jurani said. He said the governor’s bodyguards and the mosque guards noticed suspicious movements by the suicide bomber who was walking very fast, and he blew himself up as they tried to stop him from reaching the governor.
Al-Jurani described pieces of human flesh on the ground and said part of the mosque was damaged. The meeting of tribal leaders and clerics from both Islamic sects was aimed at reducing sectarian tension in the province and discussing ways to support security forces against insurgents.
