A tribal chief and thirteen members of his family have been taken by suspected al-Qaeda militants in Diyala province northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

According to local police, dozens of the Al Qaeda gunmen stormed the house of Sheik Dhari Wahab al-Mandeel on Sunday.

Al-Mandeel is a key leader of the influential Obeid clan, a Sunni group which was planning to form a local Awakening Council militia to fight the al-Qaeda network in Iraq.

The heavily-armed militants critically wounded al-Mandeel's son and his daughter in-law before taking away Al-Mandeel and the other members of his family.

Al-Mandeel's house and several nearby houses were damaged or burned down when the gunmen opened fire.