Al-Qaeda kills, injures 17 family members in Diala

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: Three children were killed and 14 others, from the same family, were wounded in an armed attack on a Sahwa leader’s house in east of Baaquba, a police source said on Wednesday. “Al-Qaeda armed group launched an attack on the house of Sahwa leader, Abdul Karim Hassan al-Dahlaji, in al-Dahlakiya region in Baladruz district, east of Baaquba, killing three children and injuring 14, including seven women,” the source told IraqiNews.com. Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi). A large portion of the province is drained by the Diala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diala’s main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large Date Palm groves. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remnants of al-Qaeda network following the Diala province campaign between 2006 and 2007. SH (S) 1