Key Iraqi Sunni tribal leader killed: police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A key leader of an alliance of Iraqi Sunni Arab tribes that opposed al Qaeda was killed in a roadside bomb attack on Thursday, police and a tribal sheikh said.

Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was killed in the bomb blast near his home in Ramadi, provincial capital of the western province of Anbar. U.S. President George W. Bush had met Abu Risha during a visit to Iraq last week.
"The sheikh's car was totally destroyed by the explosion. Abu Risha was killed and two of his bodyguards were seriously wounded," Ramadi police officer Ahmed Mahmoud al-Alwani told Reuters.
Abu Risha set up an alliance of tribal sheikhs in Anbar to fight Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, an effort which has been held up by U.S. and Iraqi leaders as one of the biggest success stories in improving security in Iraq.
But the alliance had shown signs of splintering in recent months over dissatisfaction with Abu Risha's leadership and infighting between tribal leaders.
It was one of the first examples of working with local tribal sheikhs in Anbar, once the most dangerous area of Iraq for U.S. forces, to develop tribal police to secure their own communities.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL131303920070913