Clash in Iraq kills 18 members of al-Qaida

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — 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.

The Islamic Army in Iraq sent advance word to Iraqi police requesting that U.S. helicopters keep out of the area since its fighters had no uniforms and were indistinguishable from al-Qaida, according to the police and a top Islamic Army leader known as Abu Ibrahim.

Abu Ibrahim told The Associated Press that his fighters killed 18 al-Qaida militants and captured 16 in the fight southeast of Samarra, a mostly Sunni city about 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. He would not say whether any Islamic Army members were killed.

Much of the Islamic Army in Iraq, a major Sunni Arab insurgent group that includes former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, has joined the U.S.-led fight against al-Qaida in Iraq along with Sunni tribesmen and other former insurgents repelled by the terror group’s brutality and extremism.

An Iraqi police officer corroborated Abu Ibrahim’s account, but said policemen were not able to verify the number of bodies because the area was still too dangerous to enter.

Before the battle, the insurgent commander personally contacted Iraqi police in Samarra himself to tell them his plans, according to the officer and Abu Ibrahim himself.

He asked that Iraqi authorities inform the American military about his plans, and requested that no U.S. troops interfere, they said.

The U.S. military said Saturday it had no record of U.S. troops ever being informed about the operation, and it was unclear whether Iraqi police followed through on Abu Ibrahim’s request.