Fasal al Gaood

Sheik Fasal al Gaood ( _ar. فصال القعود, died June 25, 2007) was a former governor of Al Anbar province, Iraq and an important Iraqi Sunni Muslim ally of the United States.

Fasal al Gaood helped to form an umbrella group of tribal Sunni leaders called the Anbar Salvation Council. The goal of the organization was to ally themselves with U.S. forces against Al Qaeda insurgents in Sunni regions of Iraq, such as Al Anbar. The council had been unfortunately torn by infighting.

al Gaood was killed on June 25, 2007, in a suicide bombing blast at the Mansour Hotel in Baghdad along with 11 others. Six of those killed, including al Gaood, were members of the Anbar Salvation Council, who were meeting at the hotel at the time. Investigators believe that the Sunni tribal leaders were the targets. The blast also killed Rahim al-Maliki, a prominent Iraqi poet and television producer for Al-Iraqiya TV.

External Links and Reference

* [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/staff/hannah_allam/story/17347.html McClatchy Newspaper Service: A U.S. ally in Iraq is murdered]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/25/AR2007062500319.html Washington Post:Baghdad Blast Targets Sunni Tribal Leaders] (Accessed September 14, 2007)