The head of an anti-al-Qaeda militia survived a truck bombing in Iraq’s northern oil city of Kirkuk, the ninth assassination attempt against him, police said on Wednesday.
A suicide bomber blocked the path of Abdel Karim Ensayef al-Juburi’s motorcade on Tuesday and then blew up the explosives-rigged vehicle, police said.
But al-Juburi and five bodyguards all escaped with only injuries.
Alias Abu Seif al-Kidawi, al-Juburi heads a 1 000-strong United States-backed militia in one of the most strategic and dangerous districts of Iraq, the al-Muntaka neighbourhood of Kirkuk where pipelines serving the province’s oilfields meet.
Oil infrastructure in the neighbourhood has been a repeated target for sabotage attempts by Sunni insurgents, particularly those loyal to al-Qaeda.
His militia is one of dozens around Iraq set up with the backing of the US military since 2006 to make common cause against al-Qaeda. The great majority are manned by Sunni Arab tribesmen or former rebels.
A colourful character with four wives and 19 children at the age of 39, Juburi was a businessman under executed president Saddam Hussein’s regime before being jailed for smuggling.
He was freed by US troops during the invasion of 2003. — AFP
