BAGHDAD: Former Sunni insurgents asked the U.S. to stay away, then ambushed members of al-Qaida in Iraq, killing 18 in a battle that raged for hours north of Baghdad, an ex-insurgent leader and Iraqi police said Saturday.
Fighters of the Islamic Army in Iraq staged the surprise attack Friday afternoon near Samarra — sending advance word to Iraqi police and requesting that U.S. helicopters stay away, since the fighters had no uniforms and were indistinguishable from al-Qaida.
A top Islamic Army leader known as Abu Ibrahim told The Associated Press that his fighters attacked al-Qaida southeast of Samarra, a mostly Sunni city about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
"We found out that al-Qaida intended to attack us, so we ambushed them at 3 p.m. on Friday," Abu Ibrahim said.
It helps when the people are on our side.
Donald Sensing reminds us
The Islamic Army in Iraq cannot be counted as friendly to the US or to Iraq’s central government. However, it now appears that they are no longer enemies, either.
And that the enemy is running out of ammunition. Al Qaeda losing the log war
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