IRAQ: Suicide bomber kills at least 47 as army recruits line up

Record ID: 353065

  • Title: IRAQ: Suicide bomber kills at least 47 as army recruits line up
  • Date: 18th August 2010
  • Summary: LARGE POOL OF WATER/BLOOD AT SCENE STREET LITTERED WITH DEBRIS
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA6V8LCJ51LYOPY7HIXTYYNAU1O
  • Story Text: At least 47 recruits and soldiers were killed and 77 wounded on Tuesday (August 17) when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside an army recruitment centre in Baghdad in one of the bloodiest attacks in Iraq this year.
    The suicide blast tore through a line of recruits as tensions simmer following an inconclusive election more than five months ago that has yet to produce a new government and ahead of the end of U.S. combat operations this month.
    Insurgents have been targeting Iraqi police and soldiers as they prepare to take full responsibility for security on Sept. 1 when U.S. troop numbers will drop to 50,000, part of a plan that will lead to a full U.S. withdrawal next year.
    The toll of 47 in the attack on an army base near Baghdad's central Maidan square was final and not expected to increase, Deputy Health Minister Khamis al-Saad told Reuters. Some police and army sources said the death toll could be as higher.
    The site of the attack used to be the Defence Ministry under Saddam Hussein, turned into an army recruitment centre and military base after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
    One army source who declined to be identified said there might have been two suicide bombers, a hallmark of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and its local affiliates.
    The bloodshed was the latest in a steady drumbeat of attacks since a March 7 election produced no outright winner and pitted a Sunni-backed, cross-sectarian alliance against the country's major Shi'ite-led factions.
    While overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the height in 2006-07 of the sectarian slaughter between majority Shi'ites and once dominant Sunnis, a stubborn insurgency remains capable of carrying out large scale attacks.
    Officials say the insurgents are now trying to exploit political tensions stirred up by unsuccessful coalition talks between Shi'ite political factions and the Sunni-backed Iraqiya alliance, which won a narrow victory in the March election.
    Hopes of a one possible solution to the stalemate were dashed on Monday (August 16) when Iraqiya, headed by former premier Iyad Allawi, broke off talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
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