23 dead as Qaeda clashes with rival Iraq militants

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BAQUBA, Aug 23 (AFP): Suspected Al-Qaeda fighters clashed with police and members of a rival militant group Thursday after an attack on the homes of tribal sheikhs that left 23 people dead and another 15 kidnapped.
Brigadier General Ali Dilayan, chief of police in Baquba, capital of the restive province of Diyala, told the news agency that 200 fighters from Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate attacked the small town of Kanan at dawn.
"The first attack was against a mosque," he told the news agency. "They blew up the mosque, then they bombed houses crowded with family members."
Three houses were attacked, including those of two sheikhs who support Iraqi police and US troops in their fight against Al-Qaeda, he said.
Police counterattacked with the support of gunmen from the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution, a Sunni insurgent group which was once allied to Al-Qaeda but which has become one of its fiercest rivals.
In one house, Sheikh Yunis al-Tae and an unknown number of his sons were killed, Dilayan said, adding that 17 people were wounded.
Among those killed were 22 civilians and a police officer and Dilayan warned that the toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble.
"We have arrested 22 Al-Qaeda suspects," he said, adding that they were detained south of Kanan, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Baghdad, in an area known to be a stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.