A suicide bomber attacked an army recruiting station near a US-Iraqi military base in northern Iraq yesterday, killing 40 people and wounding 30 others, the Iraqi defense ministry said. At least 21 more corpses were found -- many with nooses around their neck -- and mortar and bomb attacks killed at least four in Baghdad and surrounding towns.
No US troops were hurt in the bombing about 30km east of the city of Tal Afar, said the US military, which confirmed the attack but reported 30 deaths rather than 40.
The bomber struck shortly after noon at the station, killing both civilians and military personnel gathered among ``a crowd of recruits who were attempting to join the Iraqi Army,'' the defense ministry said in a statement.
US President George W. Bush singled out Tal Afar in a recent speech as a success story for US and Iraqi forces in the drive to quell the insurgency.
US soldiers helped secure the area after the attack and treat the wounded, the US military said.
Iraqi army Lieutenant Akram Eid said that many of the wounded were taken to the Sykes US Army base on the outskirts of Tal Afar, which is about 64km west of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.
Details of a joint US-Iraqi Special Operations attack in northeast Baghdad late on Sunday continued to filter out. The military, in an updated reported, said the joint operation "killed 16 insurgents and wounded three others during a house-to-house search on an objective with multiple structures."
"They also detained 18 other individuals, discovered a significant weapons cache and secured the release of an Iraqi being held hostage," the statement said.
But Iraq's Interior Minister reacted angrily, denouncing the operation and rejecting the US account.
"Entering the Mustafa Shiite Mosque and killing worshippers was unjustified and a horrible violation from my point of view," Bayan Jabr said on the Al-Arabiya TV news network. "Innocent people inside the mosque offering prayer at sunset were killed."
Iraq police Lieutenant Colonel Falah al-Mohammadawi said that 17 people were killed. Seven were members of the Mehdi Army, a Shiite militia, three were members of the Islamic Dawa Party-Iraq Organization that had an office in the mosque complex and seven were civilians with no affiliation.
Also yesterday, Baghdad Governor Hussein Tahan told reporters the local government had cut ties to the US military and diplomatic mission.
"The Baghdad provincial council has decided to stop dealings in regards to services and politics with the coalition forces and the US Embassy because of the cowardly attack on the al-Moustafa mosque," he said.
"Harsher measures will be taken in the future to preserve the dignity of the Iraqi citizens," he added.
Jawad al-Maliki, a lawmaker from the United Iraqi Alliance, told a news conference that the Shiite bloc had canceled yesterday's talks to form a new government.
"We suspended today's meetings to discuss the formation of the government because of what happened at the al-Moustafa mosque," he said.
He said the alliance was expected decide today when to resume the talks.
Reporters who visited the scene yesterday morning said the site of the attack was clearly a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex, although the US military insisted, "no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation."
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