Bombers kill army recruits

2008-07-15 14:03

Iraq - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits on Tuesday in an Iraqi province where devastating attacks persist despite security improvements in the rest of the country.

At least 28 people died, the Iraqi police and military said.

The bombings came ahead of what Iraqi military officials have described as an imminent offensive in troubled Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. The US military says it will support that effort, which they called an enhancement of existing patrols and actions there.

The blasts at the Saad military camp in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala, recalled the scenes of mass terror and grief that were almost a daily routine in previous years. Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in about four years.

Associated Press Television News footage showed medical staff unloading white bodybags from ambulances, soldiers on their knees weeping over slain comrades and the wounded moaning as they lay on gurneys and even on the blood-stained floor of a hospital room.

The explosions killed 28 people and wounded at least 57 recruits, a police official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

A military officer in Baqouba, 60km from Baghdad, confirmed the death toll and said soldiers were among the casualties. He also spoke on the same anonymity condition.

Critical to Baghdad's security

The US military said in a statement that the attack occurred around 08:00. It said 20 police recruits were killed and 55 were injured. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the reports.

Diyala is critical to Baghdad's security because of its strategic importance as an entrance to the capital and a threat to supply routes going north. The volatile, ethnically mixed area also borders Iran, which the United States has accused of helping militants to stage attacks on American troops.

Last year, US troops largely subdued militancy in Baqouba, which had been held by al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni extremist groups. But many insurgents were believed to have melted away, and now appear to be regrouping.

Loyalists of Saddam Hussein's regime had homes in Buhriz, a southern suburb of Baqouba, and the area served as a staging ground for Sunni attacks that drove Shi'ites out of the city.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by a US airstrike in Diyala province in June 2006.

On June 22, a female suicide bomber concealing explosives beneath her black robe struck outside a government complex in Baqouba. At least 15 people were killed and more than 40 were wounded. A car bomb across the street from the same compound killed at least 40 people in April.

- SAPA