Bomb kills Iraqi anti-insurgent cleric
BAGHDAD - A Sunni cleric known for denouncing insurgents in Iraq was killed yesterday by a bomb that ripped apart his car, a police official said, in the second targeted attack on a religious figure in as many weeks.
Activists and clerics who speak out against Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups have been attacked with some regularity, raising the possibility that the waning insurgency has shifted to a more targeted terror campaign.
Jamal Humadi was driving home after delivering his Friday sermon in Saqlawiyah, 45 miles northwest of Baghdad, when a bomb attached to his car exploded, the official said.
Two passengers were wounded.
Humadi was known for his opposition to Al Qaeda and Sunni extremists, routinely calling on worshipers to turn away from the sectarian violence that engulfed the country two years ago.
Last week, Sunni cleric Bashir al-Juheishi was killed by a bomb attached to a car - known as a sticky bomb - in Mosul as he left a mosque there.
Juheishi was also known for taking a stand against Al Qaeda in Mosul, a city the US military has called the last urban stronghold of the group.
Insurgents carrying out such targeted attacks are using booby-trapped cans of food and toys, the military spokesman for Baghdad security warned yesterday.
“Booby-trapped cans are being used to carry out assassinations because they can be used as sticky bombs,’’ said Major General Qassim al-Moussawi. “They can be easily attached to any car or bus to target specific people.’’
Moussawi issued the warning on a government website, saying Iraqi security forces found a small bomb-making facility in western Baghdad with explosive-laden cans and toys.
Security forces discovered toy guns packed with explosives at the factory, he said.
