BAGHDAD — Gunmen in Baghdad snatched 10 Sunni and Shiite tribal sheiks from their cars Sunday as they were heading home to Diyala province after talks with the government on fighting al-Qaida, and at least one was later found shot to death.
The bold daylight kidnapping came as the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the threat from the terror network has been "significantly reduced" in the capital.
A suicide car bomber, meanwhile, struck a busy commercial area in the oil-rich, northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least eight people and wounding 26, policesaid.
The two cars carrying the sheiks - seven Sunnis and three Shiites - were ambushed in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaab about 3:30 p.m., police officials said.
The sheiks were returning to Diyala province after attending a meeting with the Shiite-dominated government's adviser for tribal affairs to discuss coordinating efforts against al-Qaida-in-Iraq, police and a relative said.
Police found the bullet-riddled body of one of the Sunnisheiks, Mishaan Hilan, about 50 yards away from where the ambush took place, an officer said, adding that the victim was identified after his cell phone was found on him.
A relative of one of the abducted Shiite sheiks blamed Sunni extremists and said the attackers picked a Shiite neighborhood to "create strife between Shiite and Sunni tribes that have united against al-Qaida in the area."
But, Jassim Zeidan al-Anbaqi said, "this will not happen."
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Sunday that the threat from al-Qaida in several former strongholds in Baghdad has been "significantly reduced" but the group remains "a very dangerous and very lethal enemy."
He singled out success in what had been some of the most volatile Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad, including Ghazaliyah, Amariyah, Azamiyah and Dora.
Petraeus said the reduced threat from al-Qaida had given way to nonsectarian crimes - kidnapping, corruption in the oil industry and extortion.
In all, at least 35 people were killed or found dead across the nation, including the decomposing bodies of 12 Shiites found near the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba, an army officer said.
An explosives-laden car also exploded near a market in Baghdad's northern Shiite district of Kazimiyah, killing at least two civilians and wounding 10, according to local police.
The suicide bombing in Kirkuk, 80 miles north of Baghdad, struck a mainly Kurdish area in the city, which has seen a rise in ethnic tensions as Iraq's Kurds try to strengthen their presence there as a prelude to annexing it to their nearby self-rule region.
On a separate subject, Petraeus offered some personal reflection on the plight of Sultan Hashim al-Tai, a Saddam Hussein-era defense minister who faces the death penalty after his conviction for his role in the Anfal campaign that killed tens of thousands of Kurds.
The executions of al-Tai - along with Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali," and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy operations director for the Iraqi military - have been delayed as Iraqi politicians and legal experts wrangle over the refusal of President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, to sign the order.
Al-Tai, a Sunni Arab from the northern city of Mosul, negotiated the cease-fire that ended the 1991 Gulf War, when a U.S.-led coalition drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait. He also surrendered to U.S. forces in September 2003 after weeks of negotiations. His defense lawyers claimed the Americans had promised al-Tai "protection and good treatment" before he turned himself in.
Meanwhile, attack helicopters buzzed over a hilly region in southeastern Turkey on Sunday looking for Kurdish rebels after troops reportedly killed 15 separatist guerrillas in a morning operation far from the increasingly tense border with Iraq.
The fighting occurred in the predominantly Kurdish province of Tunceli, as the government pressed on with its efforts against the Kurdistan Worker's Party, or PKK, whose fighters have killed at least 42 people in the past month in raids on Turkish territory.
Turkey has threatened to send troops into Iraq to hunt down the rebels and has demanded the extradition of PKK leaders. The United States, Iraq and other countries have been pressing for Turkey to refrain from cross-border operations.
Petraeus said Sunday that the U.S. military was playing a role in trying to defuse the tensions, but he declined to elaborate.
In Turkey, pressure has been building on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take action, with tens of thousands of Turks staging anti-PKK protests in recent weeks.
Erdogan called for unity between Turks and his country's minority Kurds Sunday but reiterated his government's determination to fight Iraq-based separatist Kurdish rebels.
"As long as we are firmly bound together, the treacherous separatist terrorist attacks will never reach their goal," Erdogan said in a message ahead of today's celebrations to mark the 84th anniversary of the Turkish republic.
Information for this article was contributed from Baghdad by Sameer N.Yacoub and from Ankara, Turkey, by Suzan Fraser of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1, 6 on 10/29/2007