A suicide bomber walked into an Iraqi army recruiting center outside of Baghdad yesterday and blew himself up amid a crowd of recruits, killing at least 15 people and wounding 22 others, police said.
The attack underscored the danger facing Iraqi forces who are frequently targeted by Sunni insurgent groups that accuse them of collaborating with US-led efforts to stabilize the country.
The explosion hit about 10am, when the bomber entered a recruitment center in Abu Ghraib, a town on the western outskirts of the capital, police said.
Witnesses said guards spotted the bomber but were unable to stop him from detonating his explosives vest.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed five soldiers and 10 recruits, police said.
In a separate incident, five Iraqi police officers were discovered shot, killed and dumped in a deserted field outside the city of Beiji, 250km north of Baghdad late on Friday, police said yesterday.
The bullet-riddled bodies of the five police officers were dressed in civilian clothes. Their identity documents showed they were from the turbulent city of Ramadi, police said.
In related news, US President George W. Bush offered no clues yesterday about whether he would compromise over linking US support to stability in Iraq.
Bush and Congress have been talking about how to agree on a bill to finance combat operations through September. The president demands the money without strings attached, but Democrats say Bush eventually must accept some conditions on US commitment to the unpopular war.
Earlier this week, Bush vetoed a US$124 billion bill that would have provided money for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan while requiring troops to begin returning home by Oct. 1.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said Bush's veto would not deter Democrats from finding other ways to achieve their two goals of fully supporting the troops while dramatically changing the US mission in Iraq.
"Mr President, we know you oppose the resolution that Congress sent you last week, but on behalf of the American people and our soldiers, we ask you to work with us to find a way to both fund the troops and change the mission," Schumer said in the Democrats' weekly radio address yesterday.
Schumer said Democrats would not back down in their push to persuade Bush to change US policy in Iraq so US troops can get out of the business of policing a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites.
"I know how strongly the president feels that he is right, but if he looked at the facts on the ground, he would come to the conclusion that most Americans have -- we need a change in direction," he said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not