Abdul Sattar Abu Risha

Abdul Sattar Abu Risha – Sheikh Abdul Sattar Eftikhan al-Rishawi الشيخ عبد الستار افتيخان الريشاوي – (born 1972 – 13 September 2007) was a high-profile Iraqi tribal sheikh of the Abu-Risha tribe. He was the leader of an alliance of Iraqi Sunni Arab tribes that opposed al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Abu Risha was assassinated shortly after becoming an ally of the Iraqi government through forming an organisation of fellow tribal chiefs called the Sahawat al-Anbar (Anbar Awakening), based in Anbar's provincial capital of Ramadi, some west of Baghdad.

Life Abu Risha was the grandson of a tribal leader in the 1920 Iraqi Revolt and the son of an officer who served in the Anglo-Iraqi War in 1941. Little is known about Abu Risha's life prior to the Iraq War, albeit he reportedly ran a construction and import-export business with offices in Amman in Jordan and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. According to The Washington Post, "he was called a warlord and a highway bandit, an oil smuggler and an opportunist". The development led to a sharp reduction of violence in the province and forced many al-Qaeda fighters to flee to other regions of Iraq.

Assassination Abu Risha was assassinated on 13 September 2007, along with three of his guards by an improvised explosive device planted on the road near the gate of his house in Ramadi. The Islamic State of Iraq took responsibility for the attack and several dozen people were arrested in connection with the killing, including the head of his own security detail.

The sheikh's funeral attracted about 1,500 mourners, including Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Interior Minister Jawad Jawad Bulani, Defense Minister General Qadir Obeidi and Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno, second in command of U.S. forces in Iraq, and sparked vows of revenge. After Abu Risha's death, his brother, Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha, was selected to take over leadership of the Anbar Salvation Council by the tribal leaders of the province.