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Bomb kills army recruits in Iraq

A suicide attacker yesterday blew up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of hundreds of Iraqis waiting outside an army recruiting center in Baghdad, killing up to 46 people, officials and witnesses said, in the second bombing in two days targeting Iraqis working with the American-led coalition.

The attack, which occurred a day after a suicide bombing against a police station south of Baghdad that killed up to 53 people, fueled warnings that insurgents are stepping up violence to disrupt the planned June 30 handover of power to the Iraqis.

"This could be ... part of the ongoing pattern of intimidation we've seen of late," Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, the military's deputy operations chief in Baghdad, said in an e-mail interview. "We have stated numerous times that in the lead-up to governance, there could be an uptick in the violence."

Colonel Ralph Baker of the 1st Armored Division said there was no immediate indication who was behind yesterday's attack, but he said it resembled "the operating technique" of al-Qaeda or Ansar al-Islam, a radical Muslim group linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network.

The 7:25am blast tore into would-be army volunteers waiting outside the recruitment center less than 2km from the heavily fortified green zone, where the US administration has its headquarters.

Baker said a man driving a white 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra detonated about 135kg to 225kg of explosives.

Casualty reports varied. Major John Frisbie, spokesman of the 2nd Brigade 1st Armored Division, put the death toll at 36.

Iraq's deputy interior minister, Ahmed Ibrahim, said 46 people were killed and 50 injured. He told reporters "this crime" will "not deter the people's march toward freedom."

One hospital counted at least 37 bodies, while another reported one more.

Charred debris from the vehicle was scattered across the road in front of the center as a heavy rain soaked troops and FBI agents looking for evidence at the blast scene.

The recruitment center was surrounded by barbed wire and had sandbagged posts in front of it. But around 300 Iraqis were gathered outside the center's locked gates, waiting for it to open, and were completely exposed. Some of them were lined up to join the military and others waiting to depart for a training camp in Jordan.

"I was just telling my buddy that it was very dangerous to be standing here," said Ali Hussein, 22, who was lined up with the others.

He lay on a bed soaked in his blood at Karkh Hospital, his body shaking as he gasped for air. He said he saw a white Oldsmobile approaching the crowd.

"Then I felt nothing but fire around me," he said.

His legs were covered in bandages, and he had broken bones.
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