Clan demands probe into chieftain assassination

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The tribal chief-general of the al-Bu Ulwan clan Adnan al-Mhanna called on the Iraqi government on Sunday to launch a quick probe into the assassination of a tribal chief in the western Baghdad district of Abu Ghraib on Sunday, terming the operation as “an assassination of national symbols”. “My clan is urging the prime minister and the government to start an immediate serious investigation into the assassination of Sheikh Saleh al-Ulwani and offer the results to the mass media without any procrastination or delay like what used to happen in the past investigations,” Sheikh Mhanna told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The murder of Sheikh Ulwani is an assassination of national symbol and is just an episode in a string of assassinations that targeted patriotic figures loyal to Iraq,” he added. Earlier on Sunday (Sept. 19), a security source said Sheikh Saleh Ali Hamad al-Ulwani, the chieftain of al-Bu Ulwan clan, was killed in an a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to his vehicle in western Baghdad. “Ulwani was killed in an explosion as an IED attached to his vehicle went off in al-Hamdaniya area, Abu Ghraib district, western Baghdad,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “An escort with Sheikh Saleh was severely wounded,” he added. Mhanna accused “Iran, the United States and Zionism” of “standing behind the assassination of the tribal chief, national symbols, clerics and scholars”. He appealed to the government and security agencies to “provide protection for the tribal chiefs, notables and religious scholars so that they may continue to be supportive for the central government’s decisions. AmR (S)/SR 1