A black-veiled woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a police station in Iraq yesterday, killing 16 people, many of them looking for jobs in the police force.
The bombing occurred in the restive town of Muqdadiyah, in the flashpoint province of Diyala which is now considered the second most dangerous area of Iraq after Baghdad itself.
Police First Lieutenant Mohammed Ahmed said the bomber detonated her charge amid a group of people at a kiosk opposite a police station where would-be recruits were buying application forms to join the US-backed security force.
PHOTO: AP
Another 32 people were wounded in the attack.
Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdul Karim Khalaf, who earlier put the death toll at nine, confirmed that the woman had dressed in the all enveloping traditional black abaya worn by all women in the area.
Insurgents also killed four more US soldiers and attacked a US military helicopter in Baghdad, the military reported yesterday.
Two roadside bomb blasts killed three soldiers and wounded another on Monday while they were patrolling southeastern Baghdad where a massive Iraqi-US security crackdown has been underway for nearly two months to quell bloodshed.
The fourth soldier died on Monday while conducting combat operations in the restive Al-Anbar province, a known hotbed for Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda militants west of Baghdad.
The latest fatalities brought to 32 the US military's losses in this month alone and to 3,280 since the March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, according to a count based on Pentagon figures.
Insurgents also attacked a US military helicopter in Baghdad yesterday.
"We had an incident. A helicopter took small arms fire but returned safely to the base," military spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Josslyn Aberle said. "It did not go down. The pilot had control all the time. It happened somewhere in Baghdad. We are still gathering details."
Since Jan. 20, at least 10 US helicopters -- including two operated by private security firms -- have crashed in Iraq, most of them to hostile fire.
Facing its toughest time in Iraq, the US military is under pressure from sustained attacks by insurgents and militias, and also faces rising calls for troops to withdraw, both back home and in Iraq itself.
On Monday, the military witnessed the strongest protest yet against its four-year presence in Iraq when a massive Shiite rally in the holy city of Najaf called for US troops to leave.
The movement of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which organized the rally, cited television footage, pictures and the number of vehicles that brought the protesters to Najaf to claim nearly a million people attended the protest.
Local police spokesman Brigadier General Ali Jeriu said yesterday that tens of thousands of people attended the demonstration, while US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl gave a much lower figure of 15,000.
Sadr, known for his strong anti-US stance, called rally to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US invading forces and the ouster of late president Saddam Hussein's regime, in an attempt to garner public support to demand the withdrawal of US-led troops.
Large crowds of men, women and children holding Iraqi flags and anti-US banners were heard shouting "No, No to America! Yes, Yes to Freedom!"
Many people draped in Iraqi flags set the Stars and Stripes ablaze and some stamped on US and Israeli flags painted on the ground with their shoes, a major insult in Arab culture.
But Sadr disappointed followers by not showing up, adding fuel to speculation he is not in Iraq, but perhaps in Iran as claimed by the US military.
The cleric went underground more than two months ago after the launch of the Baghdad security crackdown which targets his militiamen that are accused of spearheading the killings of Sunni Arabs.
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