Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, accused by Washington of links with Al Qaeda, killed a senior Iraqi Kurdish commander and five others in an attack on Saturday, Kurdish officials said on Sunday. The Kurdish commander, Shawkat Haji Mushir, had gone to meet Ansar members in Garmashtepe village.
The meeting was supposed to negotiate the defection of a number of Ansar members to the PUK. But soon after arriving the visitors opened fire and threw grenades killing Mushir, two PUK security officers and three civilians.
The incident raised tension in the northeastern part of the Kurdish