Ramadi: Sunni Arab Iraqis on Friday vowed to keep fighting Al Qaida after the assassination of a tribal leader who fought terrorism in the country.
Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was killed in a bomb attack on Thursday near his home in Ramadi, less than two weeks after he met US President George W. Bush.
"All the tribes agreed to fight Al Qaida until the last child in Anbar," said his brother, Ahmed Abu Risha. US forces in Anbar also made the same pledge.
Abu Risha was buried in the same Ramadi cemetery where his father and brother were buried.
Risha had led the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that worked with US troops to drive away Sunni Islamist Al Qaida.
Mohmmed Al Fahdawi, a police lieutenant-colonel in Ramadi, said the police and military would launch "a big offensive" against Al Qaida strongholds in Iraq.
"We have decided not to be merciful toward anyone who sympathizes with al Qaeda because it is either us or them," he said.
