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BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi Sunni sheikh Sattar Abu Reesha, who has been fighting Al-Qaeda since last year, was killed on Thursday in a bomb attack on his convoy in the western city of Ramadi, police said.
One of his bodyguards was also killed in the attack that marked a bloody start to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"He was returning home when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb planted by insurgents," said Anbar security chief Colonel Tareq al-Dulaimi. "His car was hit directly."
Sheikh Reesha was a prominent figure in the so-called Anbar Awakening Conference of Sunni tribes which formed an alliance with American troops in western Anbar province to claw back their neighbourhoods from Al-Qaeda.
A week ago, he attended a meeting of Iraqi government and US officials in Ramadi, capital of Anbar, at which he urged other provinces to follow Anbar's lead in cooperating with the central government.
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