Blast kills 14 in Baghdad

2005-02-08 11:34

Baghdad - A blast shook an Iraqi army recruiting centre in Baghdad on Tuesday, and police and hospital officials said up to 14 people were killed.

The blast occurred near the old Muthana airfield in the heart of the capital and may have been caused by a suicide bomber, police said.

The centre has frequently been targeted in the insurgent campaign to undercut Iraq's fledgling security services. Fifteen people, most of them applicants for police jobs, were killed on day in Baqouba in a suicide car bombing.

Violence erupted elsewhere in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, as militants battled Iraqi security troops and explosions sounded over the city, leaving at least five other Iraqis dead, officials said.

Three police officers were killed in clashes that broke out in Baghdad's western Ghazaliya neighbourhood, scene of numerous clashes and assassinations over the past six months.

Also, gunmen sprayed a politician's car with gunfire, killing two of the man's bodyguards, an Interior Ministry official said. The politician, Mithal al-Alosi, who heads the Nation party, escaped the attack unhurt.

At least one explosion rattled central Baghdad, and a United States military spokesperson said that blast might have been caused by a mortar round. There was no immediate word on casualties.

- AP