Suicide bomber attacks recruits
BAGHDAD, Iraq – A wave of killings in the capital and a suicide bomber’s attack on a group of Iraqi police recruits on Wednesday punctuated a day in which Iraq’s newly formed parliament put off debating difficult issues and discussed its bylaws.
The violence began at 8:30 a.m., when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up among a crowd of Iraqis at a police recruiting station in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. The explosion killed at least 17 people, according to Khalaf al-Dulaimi, a doctor at the local hospital.
The U.S. military said in a statement that at least seven people were killed in the attack and that 13 people were wounded. It added that U.S. and Iraqi troops cleared the streets and cordoned off the area around the police station, where most of the city government’s offices are located, reopening the area within an hour.
Col. Larry Nicholson, the commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 5, a unit of Marines deployed in the area, said in the statement that recruiting continued after the bombing, signifying “the local rejection of intimidation and terrorism.”
Insurgents have repeatedly targeted crowds of army and police recruits, particularly in Fallujah and other parts of Anbar province, a desert area west of Baghdad that is considered the heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgent movement. A major attack in January killed more than 50 recruits in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar. Recruiting has continued despite the attacks, with mixed success – roughly 5,000 Anbar residents have enlisted in the Iraqi army in recent months, but some have protested serving outside their hometowns.
Iraqi police also discovered 37 bodies in several Baghdad neighborhoods, all of them handcuffed, blindfolded and shot dead, said Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Waeli, an Interior Ministry official.
Such killings occur almost daily in Baghdad but rarely in such high numbers. Sunni Arabs blame the killings on Shiite militias and the country’s Shiite-led police force, but several of those found dead Wednesday came from predominantly Shiite neighborhoods in the capital.
Also Wednesday, a U.S. soldier based near Baghdad died in a noncombat incident, military authorities said in a statement.
The attacks came as the Iraqi parliament met for the first time since April 22, when legislators gave Nouri al-Maliki, their choice for prime minister, 30 days to choose ministers to run the government.
Al-Maliki did not announce a decision on his Cabinet at the meeting Wednesday morning, and only 154 of 275 legislators showed up. The session was largely dedicated to procedural tasks.
Meanwhile, the assembly put off dealing with divisive issues.
A Kurdish lawmaker asked the assembly to issue a statement condemning recent violations of Iraqi territory, particularly in the north, where Turkey and Iran have allegedly shelled camps belonging to the Kurdish Workers Party, an insurgent group fighting for an independent Kurdish homeland.
Other legislators appeared to be reluctant to approve a statement and instead called for a hearing to explain the situation.