“The reason why we returned to carry our weapons and fight is because Qaeda returned to our cities,” said Ahmed Abu Risha, a tribal leader in Anbar who was a critical ally of the Americans.

He added, “we are obliged to defend ourselves and our province, not to fight for the Americans or the Iraqi government.”

Other tribal leaders fighting the militants say that they are not aligned with the government, and that they have not accepted any government assistance.

“Qaeda killed my brother and other members of my family,” said Sheikh Abdul Karim Rafi Fahdawi, another tribal leader in Ramadi. “I will take revenge.”

“This is our war,” he added, “and we don’t want to be accused of working for the government.”

Ali al-Mousawi, a spokesman for Mr. Maliki, rejected the criticism that the government had neglected the fighters, but said: “Now the Awakening is part of the state, and considered the same as the army or police in terms of benefits, salaries and retirement. Even their wounded will be treated at government expense.”

In the face of sharply escalating violence last year, the government began reaching out to Sunni tribes across the country as part of a nationwide counterinsurgency strategy, and has accelerated those efforts amid the crisis in Anbar. But the effort has been fraught from the beginning, with former fighters caught between their mistrust of the government and their fear of revenge killings by Al Qaeda, which appear to have increased recently. The latest episode came Sunday morning, when gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Diyala Province, killing five men.