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Car bomb kills at least 47 in Iraq
A car bomb exploded near a police station in Baghdad early Tuesday as dozens of Iraqis were applying to join the force, killing at least 47 people and wounding 114, officials said. In Baqouba, gunmen opened fire on a van carrying policemen home from work, killing 11 officers and a civilian.
The attacks were the latest attempts by insurgents to disrupt U.S.-backed efforts to build a strong Iraqi police force capable of taking over security in many towns and cities ahead of nationwide elections slated for January.
In Baghdad, the blast left a gaping 10-foot crater outside the station at the end of Haifa street, a main Baghdad thoroughfare that has been the scene recently of fierce clashes. Dozens of cars parked nearby were destroyed and shops and buildings were badly damaged.
Paramedics and residents picked up body parts scattered across the street and put them into boxes. Anguished men lifted charred bodies and lay them gently on stretchers.
Health Ministry spokesman Saad Al-Amili said at least 47 people were killed and 114 wounded.
Angry crowds near the site of the blast denounced U.S. forces and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's government for failing to protect police recruiting centers.
"I blame Ayad Allawi's government for what happened because they did not take the necessary security measures," said Ali Abul-Amir, who was among those trying to join the force but had gone around the corner to buy a drink when the explosion went off.
In the eastern city of Baqouba, gunmen in two cars opened fire Tuesday on a van carrying policemen home from work, killing 11 officers and a civilian, police and hospital officials said.
The incident occurred when the policemen were returning to their station after they were told that a trip to a training camp has been postponed, said a police officer on condition of anonymity. Eleven policemen were killed as well as the civilian driver, said Qaisar Hamid of Baqouba General Hospital.
Attacks on Iraqi security forces and police officers — consider to be collaborators by militants — have left hundreds of people dead since insurgents began a 17-month campaign to expel U.S.-led forces and destabilize Allawi's government.
Earlier this month, a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside a police academy in the northern city of Kirkuk as hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing at least 20 people and wounding 36.
On July 28, a car bomb exploded outside a police recruiting center in Baqouba, killing at least 68 people. A month earlier, a sport utility vehicle packed with artillery shells slammed into a crowd waiting to volunteer for the Iraqi military in Baghdad, killing 35.
In February, a suicide attacker targeted another army recruiting center in Baghdad, killing 47. Days earlier 53 people were killed in a similar attack south of the capital.
Meanwhile, saboteurs blew up a junction where multiple oil pipelines cross the Tigris River in northern Iraq on Tuesday, sending plumes of smoke leaping into the sky, officials said.
Firefighters struggled to put out the blaze after the attack near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad. U.S. military officials surveying the blast estimated it could take up to three days to put out the fire.
Crude oil cascaded down the hillside into the river. Fire burned atop the water, fueled by the gushing oil. Beiji is the point where several oil pipelines converge, said Lt. Col. Lee Morrison of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Also Tuesday, the military said two American soldiers were killed and three others wounded when they came under attack Monday from an improvised explosive device and small arms fire in Baghdad. The military said in a statement that troops belonged to the Army's Task Force Baghdad. The dead soldiers' names were withheld pending family notification. More than 1,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the start of military operations in March 2003, according to an Associated Press tally based on Defense Department figures. Tuesday's car bombing came a day after U.S. warplanes launched airstrikes on a suspected hideout where operatives from an al-Qaida-linked group were meeting in Fallujah, killing 20 people. Warplanes hit the city west of Baghdad after "intelligence sources reported the presence of several (Abu Musab) al-Zarqawi operatives who have been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against Iraqi civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and multinational forces," the U.S. military said in a statement. The military said reports indicated the strikes had achieved their aim, but did not name the operatives. "This strike further erodes the capability of the Zarqawi network and increases safety and security throughout Iraq," the military statement said. Also Monday, a video posted on a Web site in the name of the militants — led by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — purportedly showed the beheading of a kidnapped Turkish truck driver. Al-Zarqawi is blamed for a string of terror attacks in Iraq, including bombings and the slayings of other hostages. Washington has a $10 million bounty on his head. The video was digitally dated Aug. 17. The authenticity of the tape could not be verified, but it appeared on a Web site known for carrying statements from al-Zarqawi's group, Tawhid and Jihad. On the tape, the victim identified himself as Durmus Kumdereli and said he was seized while transporting goods to an American military base. Kumdereli was reported kidnapped Aug. 14. |
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