Drone strike kills Sunni tribal leader in Iraq's Diyala province

Reuters
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A drone strike on Sunday killed a Sunni tribal leader in Kifri town in Diyala province east of Iraq, police and security officials said.

The Sunni tribal leader from the Turkmen minority was killed when a drone dropped explosive near his guesthouse in central Kifri town, the sources said, asking not to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Kifri is a disputed area with a mixed population of ethnic Kurds, Arab Sunnis and Turkmen. Turkmen is Iraq's third largest ethnic group after Arabs and Kurds, they include both Sunnis and Shi'ites.

No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday's drone attack.

A statement from the Turkmen Front, the biggest Turkmen political party in Iraq, denounced it and demanded the government investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; editing by Barbara Lewis)