Fierce clash by Al-Qaeda killed 39 villagers in Iraq.

Around 39 people were killed in fierce clashes between suspected Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq and Sunni Arab villagers in the province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad police said. Baquba police Colonel Khairallah Ibrahim said two Sunni villages were attacked by Al-Qaeda militants at around 3:30 pm on Sunday.
"Fierce fighting broke out between the villagers and Al-Qaeda fighters in which 17 villagers and 22 Al-Qaeda militants have been killed," he said. Ibrahim said three were women were among the villagers killed.
"Most of those killed from the villages were members of the anti-Qaeda front formed recently in the area," said another police officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim al-Obeidi. Obeidi added that the two villages, Annaih and Sfayed, were previously Al-Qaeda strongholds before locals aligned with the US military.
Thousands of Sunni Arab men have formed "Awakening Councils", or anti-Qaeda fronts, with the help of the US military to fight the Al-Qaeda in Iraq group. In the past few months such councils have often faced attack from Al-Qaeda, battling to get them to rejoin the insurgency. The US and Iraqi forces are currently involved in massive assaults against Al-Qaeda in Iraq operators in the flashpoint province of Diyala.