Suicide bomber kills at least 50 during funeral

Congress is considering combining two war funding bills into one to avoid two votes this year.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two Sunni tribesmen who joined forces against al-Qaida in Iraq, killing at least 50 people Thursday and reinforcing fears that insurgents are hitting back after American-led crackdowns.

The sudden spike in bloodshed this week adds to the other worries now piling up in Iraq: violent rivalries among Shiites and persistent cracks in the Iraqi security forces.

Violence across the country has declined since seven months ago, including dramatic suicide bombings such as Thursday’s funeral attack. American officials credit the change to the U.S. troop buildup and the rise of Sunni tribal groups known as Awakening Councils that have turned against al-Qaida-linked militants. A truce called last year by anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has also helped.

But the new bloodshed highlights how fragile those gains are.

Thursday’s attack happened in the town of Albu Mohammad, about 90 miles north of Baghdad. A suicide bomber dressed in traditional Arab robes passed unsearched by guards into a tent of mourners. The occasion was a funeral for two brothers who belonged to the local Awakening Council and who were killed in an attack a day earlier.

The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body, killing at least 50 people and wounding dozens more, said police in the nearby city of Kirkuk.

“I first heard a thunderous explosion and when I turned my eyes to the tent, I saw fire and smoke coming out,” said Sheik Omar al-Azawi, an Awakening Council member who arrived at the funeral just before the blast. “Panicked people were jumping and running on all sides.”

Insurgents also struck against Awakening Council members in Baghdad on Thursday. Two council members were gunned down in the Sunni district of Azamiyah. Hours later in the same area, five council members and a civilian were killed by a roadside bomb. And the head of the Awakening Council in the southern Baghdad area of Dora was killed by gunmen who sprayed his car with bullets, also wounding his son, police said.

The violence came two days after a string of suicide bombings in four cities of northern and central Iraq killed 60 people — attacks that U.S. officials blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said such attacks do not detract from a markedly improved overall situation.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Democrats in Congress, seeking to avoid a vote on funding the Iraq war during the fall campaign season, are likely to combine President Bush’s two pending requests into a single bill to be voted on this spring.

House Democratic aides said Thursday that Bush’s $108 billion request to finance military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through the Oct. 1 end of the 2008 budget year is likely to be combined with his $70 billion request to continue the war into the next president’s term.

“You vote one time and get the money out of the way,” said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House panel responsible for the Pentagon budget.

He cautioned that House leaders have not officially endorsed the idea.

But votes on war funding bills inevitably generate tension among Democrats and unhappiness among their core supporters, who are strongly opposed to funding the war. That has leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hoping to avoid a second vote in the fall.