Suicide bomber kills 15 cops
2005-06-21 13:57
Irbil - A suicide car bomber wearing a police uniform killed at least 15 traffic policemen and wounded 100 others during morning roll call at a police headquarters in Kurdish city, the second such attack in as many days.
The bombing that ripped through the police facility was one in a series of attacks, including at least five suicide car bombings that swept Iraq on Monday.
Authorities reported 37 people died in attacks nationwide in an ongoing militant offensive that had killed nearly 1 200 in less than two months.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber walked into a Baghdad kebab restaurant popular with policemen and blew himself up, killing 23 people, including seven officers.
Islamic fundamentalists
Sabah Kadhim of interior ministry said: "Most of the attacks targeting the Iraqi security forces, including the police, are launched by Islamic fundamentalists.
"Iraq has become the centre of global terrorism, and those groups' attacks are aiming to create a sectarian crisis. Their main aim is to keep the country in chaos."
Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who led al-Qaeda in Iraq, purportedly gave his stamp of approval in an audiotaped message last month to the killing of fellow Muslims and civilians collaborating with the Shiite-led government and United States.
Extremists had in recent weeks mostly targeted the Iraqi security forces at the forefront of government counter-insurgency operations - both in an effort to shatter their morale and prevent recruits from signing up.
Rise of Shiites, Kurds
Sunni Arabs make up the core of Iraq's insurgency, and the minority had felt politically embittered by the rise of the Shiites and the Kurds - two communities that account for about 80% of the country's estimated 26 million people.
Many Sunni Arabs boycotted January's historic elections.
Irbil's Nowzat Hadi said: "Terrorist groups try to stand against Iraq's political process.
"Terrorists are trying to harm the Kurdish region because it is a secure place, and because Irbil represents the political centre of Kurdistan."
Irbil and nearby Sulaimaniyah were two key cities in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, which had enjoyed autonomous rule since 1991.
37 people killed
The area had been largely sheltered from the violence wracking the remainder of Iraq, but had seen several major bombings blamed on militant groups.
Monday's attack in Irbil was the largest in a day of violence during which at least 37 people were killed - mostly Iraqi policemen and soldiers.
A roadside bomb in northern Iraq killed one US soldier.
The number of insurgent attacks had escalated since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-led government on April 28.
According to police and hospital reports, at least 1 189 people had been killed since then.
Other extremists had started threatening fellow Sunni Arabs because some of the minority's leaders had expressed a readiness to join the political process.
- AP