The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe was killed by a bomb planted on his vehicle north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. The blast killed Sheikh Ali al-Neda as he travelled along a highway after leaving his home in the late Iraqi president's hometown of Awja.
It was Neda, a member of Iraq's minority Sunni Arab sect, who took possession of Saddam's body for burial after the Iraqi leader was executed in December 2006 for crimes against humanity. Gunmen shot dead Neda's brother in 2006.
The bomb appeared to have been fixed to the undercarriage of Neda's car, said Major Hassan Emhimid, a police officer in the nearby town of Tikrit. "Sheikh Neda was the victim of assassination. When he left his house there was a bomb in his car that killed him and a driver and wounded two of his guards," said Major Ahmed Subhi, head of a counter-terrorism unit in Salahuddin province.
A spokesman for Salahuddin Governor Hamad al-Qaisi confirmed the sheikh, head of the Albu-Naser tribe, had been killed. Neda's supporters said he had no political affiliations. Qaisi imposed an indefinite curfew in Awja, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad. Police sealed off the town and searched for suspects.
Comments
Comments are closed.