Bin-Laden’?s killing to weaken al-Qaeda-l?inked groups in Iraq, pro-govern?ment al-Sahwa (Awakening?) says.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The leaders of the pro-government al-Sahwa (Awakening) organization in Iraq have said that the killing of Usama Bin-Laden would weaken the groups linked to al-Qaeda organization in the country, according to a report by the British Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.   The Guardian quoted one of al-Sahwa Leaders, that shared in minimizing the influence of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Ahmed Abu-Risha, as having told its correspondent in west Iraq’s Ramadi city, “Bin-Laden’s killing had been good news, but we say that we can breath freely from now on.”   “The killing of Bin-Laden shall minimize the influence of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Abu-Risha said.   He said that “Bin-Laden had been financing the extremists here and conscripting suicide bombers to come to us,” Abu-Risha said, adding that “they shall face problems of financing and organization from now on, and we want to destroy this group (al-Qaeda) in all parts of the world.”   In southern Baghdad, another al-Sahwa Leader, Sheikh Mustapha Kamal, told the Guardian that “if an army loses its commander, the soldiers lose their framework.”   “Usama had been the commander-in-chief of that organization (al-Qaeda) and finding a successor like him won’t be easy,” he said, adding that “al-Qaeda is facing difficult times nowadays.”   The Chairman of the Sunni Endowment in Iraq, Ahmed al-Samarrae, said: “Bin-Laden’s death shall strengthen the security of this country.”   “Al-Qaeda in Iraq comprises local elements, but Usama Bin-Laden had been their symbolic commander and his death shall change several issues,” he said, adding that “it shall destroy the iron grip of the group.”   The Guardian, meanwhile, reported that Baghdad streets, that had suffered weekly attacks by extremist elements, belonging to al-Qaeda, have had a warm response.   “It had been a very happy news, though they came late. I would have been more happy if it took place before 2003, whilst all those crimes were being committed against Iraq,” Qassim Irbead, 50, told the newspaper.   44-year-old Um-Mohammed, also expressed rejoice for the killing of Bin-Laden, saying: “believe me I am very happy, because I lost my 20-year-old son in a Baghdad explosion.”   “I say to the terrorist Usama that you got the punishment you deserved – eye-for-eye.  You have killed many people and had faced the fate you deserved,” she said.   SKH (FT) 1152