The intelligence official confirmed reports that a Sunni tribe in Samarra had tried and executed Qaeda members for their role in assassinating a local sheik.

Meanwhile, most of our operations against insurgents have done little but further antagonize the Sunni tribes of western Iraq.

Several insurgency groups and heads of Sunni Muslim tribes also formed a coalition called the Mujahideen Shura Council.

Control over pearl diving on the other hands was relaxed, as it was controlled by the Sunni tribes who kept a high level of autonomy and resisted intervention.

The Shia supported them, while the Sunni tribes and parts of the ruling family opposed them.

The movement started among Sunni tribes in Anbar Province in 2005 to become an ad-hoc armed force across the country in less than a year.

The second bomb, which exploded near the home of the chief of a large Sunni tribe, did not harm anyone, and may have been detonated as a warning.

His family is reported to partly be rooted in the Sunni tribe of Iraq's Anbar Province, which extends to Syria's eastern desert.

He is also a member of a prominent Sunni tribe located south of Baghdad.

President Hussein's power base consists largely of portions of the Sunni Muslim tribes and clans in central Iraq.