Mourners vowed revenge and perseverance Friday at the funeral of the leader of the Sunni Arab revolt against al-Qaida militants, who was assassinated just 10 days after meeting with President Bush.

In eastern Diyala province, meanwhile, a bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle on Friday, killing four American soldiers in, the U.S. command said. They were the first American deaths reported in Iraq since Monday.

Late Friday, an al-Qaida front in Iraq claimed responsibility for assassinating Adbul-Sattar Abu Risha. A statement posted on the Internet by the Islamic State of Iraq called Abu Risha “one of the dogs of Bush” and described Thursday’s killing as a “heroic operation that took over a month to prepare.”

Al-Qaida earlier had killed four of the sheik’s brothers and six other relatives for working with the U.S. military.

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