Female Bomber Kills Anti-Qaeda Sunni Sheik

A female suicide bomber assassinated a Sunni Awakening leader in his Diyala province home today, the AP reports, killing the sheik’s bodyguard, cousin, and 5-year-old niece along with him. The woman had come to see the sheik yesterday, saying her husband had been kidnapped and was begging for help. “She came back this morning and nobody checked her,” the sheik’s brother said.

The woman was ushered into the house, and blew up the explosives belt she was wearing as soon as she was within sight of the leader. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Diyala is one of the most volatile regions of Iraq, where American-funded Sunni Awakening councils have taken up arms against al-Qaeda in Iraq. (More Iraq stories.)