Sunni Iraqi attacks on Al-Qaeda persist

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A senior Al-Qaeda commander in Fallujah was shot dead Saturday by unknown militants, police in the restive western Iraqi city announced, in further Iraqi attacks on the militant group.

Colonel Tareq al-Dulaimi, a senior police intelligence officer with close ties to Anbar Province's pro-US tribal coalition, confirmed reports that Muwaffaq al-Jugheifi had been killed but did not identify the attackers.

The attack comes just a day after Anbar's tribal forces announced they had sent 50 plain clothes secret police into the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Amiriyah to kill Qaeda members there battling with rival insurgent groups.

Fallujah is currently at the center of a large-scale security operation in which Iraqi police and tribal fighters, backed by US forces, are attempting to drive Al-Qaeda's Islamist militants out of the town.

"I can confirm that we know of Muwaffaq, he is known to be behind numerous crimes, including kidnapping," Major Jeff Pool, spokesman for Fallujah's US marines, told AFP without confirming his death.

In the northeast of the city, marines and Iraqi security forces closed off a district, searched it for militants and recruited a local armed force to defend against Al-Qaeda.