Iraq bomb targets pro-government tribe

BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Suicide bombers killed five people at an Iraqi checkpoint manned by members of a Sunni tribe that had turned against the anti-U.S. insurgency.

The truck bomb targeted the al-Tarmiya Awakening Council and came just two days after al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden denounced groups that don't side with the insurgency.

Awakening councils are groups of people who fight insurgents and terrorists.

The New York Times said Tarmiya was once a hotbed of the insurgency but has since switched sides. Bin Laden has linked such groups in with an alleged U.S.-Israeli plot to control Iraq.

Bombings across Iraq Monday left 16 dead, including two Iraqi soldiers, the Times reported.

At the same time, U.S. and Iraqi forces continued a series of security sweeps across the country against Sunni insurgents who are still fighting on bin Laden's side.

Kuwait's KUNA news agency reported that a U.S. soldier died from non-combat injuries, bringing the total number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion to 3,902.