Iraq - Gunmen kill tribal chief and sons in Baghdad

Agence France Presse | November 23, 2005

[HAL9000]

Gunmen in 10 army-type vehicles shot dead a Sunni Arab tribal chief and four of his sons in a pre-dawn raid in Baghdad on Wednesday while two officials died in other attacks in the Iraqi capital, police said.

The gunmen, wearing army uniforms, burst into Sheikh Fadel Sarhid Ali's home in the southeast of the city around 4 am (0100 GMT) and shot the tribal leader and his sons before escaping.

Both Sunni and Shiite religious and political leaders are regularly targeted by death squads in Iraq.

Radi Ismail Jawad, a high ranking offiical at the industry ministry, was assassinated as he was driving in Al-Jamiaa neighbourhood in western Baghdad, police said.

In another attack, four gunmen raided the home of General Mahdi Kassem, the former chief of traffic police, and shot him dead in Qadissiya district in central Baghdad.

[Dog]

Targeted assassinations

Someone has changed tactics again.

[Cap Huff]

Iraq Insurgents Kill Senior Sunni Leader

AP story.

Note also:

"Also on Wednesday, the U.S. military announced a new operation with Iraqi troops in predominantly Sunni western Iraq. The operation launched Tuesday in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, is aimed at preventing insurgents from interfering with voting there, a U.S. military statement said. It is the third operation in Ramadi since Nov. 16."

I'm not sure it is a change in tactics. It seems that this leader's son was assassinated about a month ago:

'His eldest son was assassinated one month ago in the Taji area, northern Baghdad, when unidentified men shot and killed him.'