HILLA: The leader of an anti-Qaeda militia in Iraq was gunned down on Tuesday in a drive-by shooting outside his home south of Baghdad, police said.
Malik Yaseen’s two bodyguards were wounded in the attack, which occurred in the village of Jurf as-Sakhr, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital in Babil province.
The village lies within a confessionally mixed region known as the Triangle of Death because of the frequency of insurgent attacks during the worst of Iraq’s insurgency following the 2003 US-led invasion.
Yaseen was the leader of a local Sunni tribal militia known as the Sahwa (Awakening), referred to in the US military as the "Sons of Iraq". The Sahwa sided with the US army against Al-Qaeda from late 2006, helping turn the tide of the insurgency.
