Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Sunni tribal leaders who have vowed to drive al Qaeda out of Iraq's most restive province met the Shi'ite premier on Wednesday, marking what Washington hopes will be a breakthrough alliance against Islamist militants. But this good news for the U.S.-backed government regarding Anbar province came as the leader of the Kurdish region in the north threatened to secede if Baghdad tried to exert influence over his territory's oil wealth.