Assailants gun down the head of Saddam's tribe

In two attacks, rocket-propelled grenades hit U.S. military vehicles.
TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -- Attackers gunned down the head of Saddam Hussein's tribe, who recently disavowed the ousted dictator, while he rode in a car in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, the regional governor said today.
Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khattab, who was leader of Saddam's Bani al-Nasiri tribe, was killed Sunday and his son was wounded, said the governor, Hussein al-Jubouri.
Appointed by Saddam as tribal chief, al-Khattab remained close to the dictator during his 35-year rule. But after the U.S.-led invasion, he publicly disavowed Saddam in the presence of local leaders and American troops, residents said.
Al-Khattab "had many enemies and he had confiscated a lot of properties and killed many people," the governor said.
"The person who killed him could have taken revenge," al-Jubouri added.
No arrests have been made. The assailants had been riding in a pickup truck when they shot al-Khattab and fled the scene, residents said.
Saddam's close ties
Saddam grew up in Tikrit and maintained close ties to the town. He lavished largesse on Tikrit, and many residents owed him favors.
Unlike other places in Iraq, the ousted dictator still enjoys a degree of popularity here, and pro-Saddam graffiti can still be seen. Al-Khattab's killing, however, suggests the town is divided.
People in Tikrit said some were angry at al-Khattab for his close ties to Saddam and others were upset over his decision to disavow the ex-dictator.
Meanwhile, rocket-propelled grenades slammed into U.S. military vehicles in two attacks in and around Baghdad today, and a massive explosion at a mosque in the town of Fallujah killed 10 Iraqis and injured four others.
Iraqi civilians sifted through the rubble for evidence that the explosion a day earlier in Fallujah was caused by a missile or bomb strike, but American soldiers at the scene disputed that account, saying it was likely caused when explosives hidden at the site went off.
Today, assailants traveling in a vehicle in the Mustansiryah neighborhood of central Baghdad fired a rocket propelled-grenade at a U.S. military vehicle, destroying it and likely causing casualties, Iraqi witnesses said.
One witness, 19-year-old Ali Ibrahim Shakir, said he saw two U.S. soldiers being evacuated onto stretchers. He said he could not tell if the soldiers were hurt or killed.
A Mercedes traveling alongside the U.S. vehicle was also hit, wounding the Iraqi civilian driver, said witness Mohammed Abdullah. American military spokesmen in Baghdad said they had no immediate information.
Also today, witnesses said another rocket-propelled grenade slammed into a U.S. truck on a road 12 miles south of Baghdad. The witnesses said that attack caused four casualties, but there was no immediate confirmation from the military.
Mosque destroyed
In Fallujah, witnesses said the blast took place just before 11 p.m. Monday in a small cinderblock building in the courtyard of the al-Hassan mosque. The explosion blew out the walls and took down the roof.
Hours after the explosion, dozens of people gathered around the destroyed mosque shouting anti-American slogans.
"There is no God but Allah, America is the enemy of God," they chanted, as a crane lifted pieces of concrete from the site. An eyewitness said that after the evening prayer, he heard aircraft overhead and then heard an explosion.
This morning, about a dozen Iraqis searched the rubble for pieces of metal they said would prove an American attack caused the damage.
"These are pieces of a missile," said Aqeel Ibrahim Ali, 26, holding a box of metal shards. "An airplane shot a missile."
No evidence
But Sgt. Thomas McMurtry, a reservist with the 346th Tactical Psychological Operations Company, said there was no evidence a U.S. attack caused the explosion.
"They did it to themselves. Clearly, the physical evidence does not support that [a missile strike] in any way," he told The Associated Press. "Whatever blew up was just sitting inside there. There is no evidence that it was anything else but a ground-based explosive.
McMurtry, a schoolteacher based in Dayton, Ohio who said he is a former special forces engineer with munitions training, said that if a bomb or missile caused the explosion, there would be shrapnel. He said U.S. army ordnance disposal personnel saw no sign of a missile strike.
Col. Guy Shields, spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, said 10 Iraqis were killed and four others were wounded.
Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, has been a hotbed of anti-American activity and scene of several confrontations involving U.S. troops.
'Sunni triangle'
Today, a U.S. sweep against remaining pockets of resistance in the so-called "Sunni triangle" north and east of Baghdad, entered its third day. Troops detained six people, including a colonel from Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, a military statement said.
U.S. troops have been increasingly targeted in recent weeks, raising fears their mission faces a guerrilla-style insurgency.
At least 20 American and six British troops have been killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1.
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