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Key opponent of terrorists killed

Suicide bombings claim a dozen lives

- The Associated Press

Published: Tue, Jan. 08, 2008 12:30AM

Modified Tue, Jan. 08, 2008 03:23AM

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BAGHDAD -- The head of a key U.S.-backed Sunni group was killed Monday in a double suicide bombing that claimed at least 11 other lives and highlighted the deadly precision of attacks on Sunni leaders choosing to oppose al-Qaida in Iraq.

The main target -- a former police colonel who led resistance to al-Qaida in Iraq in one of its former Baghdad strongholds -- was first embraced by a bomber posing as a friend. Seconds later, the attacker stepped back and triggered an explosion, a witness said.

A suicide car bomber then struck as rescuers tried to evacuate the wounded. At least 28 people were injured in the twin blasts -- the latest in a spate of attacks against Sunnis who have joined a U.S.-supported movement against extremists that is credited with helping sharply reduce violence.

SLAIN BLOGGER LEFT A FINAL MESSAGE

Maj. Andrew Olmsted's "Final Post" was published online -- after the Rocky Mountain News blogger was killed in Iraq. Olmsted died Thursday when rebels attacked with small-arms fire near Sadiyah, the military said.

Olmsted, who began writing for the News on May 21 and described himself as a libertarian, had written what he called "Final Post" about his death. He asked a friend to post it on his Web site, AndrewOlmsted.com, if he died in Iraq.

Olmsted, 37, warned against making his death an argument for or against the war. "My life isn't a chit to be used to bludgeon people to silence on either side," he wrote. "I have my own opinions about what we should do about Iraq, but since I'm not around to expound on them I'd prefer others not try and use me as some kind of moral capital to support a position I probably didn't support."

"The news is devastating," Rocky Mountain News Editor John Temple said. "The major was a brave man who obviously thrived on sharing his experiences and thoughts on his blog. He provided a perspective on Iraq that would have been impossible for a journalist. Our thoughts are with his wife, family and unit."

But the mounting al-Qaida in Iraq backlash has stoked worries of a wider showdown brewing as extremists try to reclaim havens and intimidate the so-called "Awakening Councils" opposing them. In an audiotape released Dec. 29, Osama bin Laden warned that Sunni Arabs who join the groups will "suffer in life and in the afterlife."

Monday's bombing occurred at the entrance of a Sunni Endowment office, a government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, and near an Awakening Council office in Baghdad's northern Azamiyah district, which had been a stronghold of insurgents and a haven for al-Qaida in Iraq.

The first bomber approached Riyadh al-Samarrai, a former police colonel and head of the local Awakening Council, and claimed to be a friend, said one of al-Samarrai's bodyguards, who was wounded in the attack.

As people rushed to aid the wounded, a suicide car bomb exploded just yards away, said Baghdad's chief military spokesman, Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi.

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