Suicide bombers kill 43 in police academy attack

TWO men strapped with explosives detonated them at Baghdad’s police academy today, killing at least 43 people and wounding 73 more, officials said, while al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video of a man purported to be a US security consultant.

The men were wearing explosive-laden vests and a US contractor was among those wounded, a US military statement said. US forces rushed to the scene to provide assistance, the statement said. The military retracted an earlier statement that the bombers were women.

“We were sitting in the yard when we heard an explosion,” said police major Wisam al-Heyali. “Seconds later, we were hit by another explosion as we were running. I saw some of my colleagues falling down and I felt my hand hit, but I kept on running.”

Police Captain Jalil Abdul-qadir said the death toll had reached 43, including seven policewomen. At least 73 people were wounded, including six policewomen. He said all were officers or students at the academy.

US forces initially placed the death toll at 27.

“One of the suicide bombers detonated near a group of students outside a classroom,” the Task Force Baghdad said.

“Thinking the explosion was an indirect-fire attack, (Iraqi police) and students fled to a bunker for shelter where the second bomber detonated his vest.”

Iraqi insurgents have concentrated their attacks against Iraqi security forces. Today’s attack was the deadliest against Iraqi forces since February 28, when a suicide car bomber attacked mostly Shi’ite police and National Guard recruits in Hillah, killing 125.

In a mid-afternoon broadcast, al-Jazeera television yesterday broadcast an Iraqi insurgent video that purported to show a kidnapped US security consultant.

The video showed a blond Western-looking man sitting down with his hands tied behind his back. The video also bore the logo of the Islamic Army in Iraq and showed a US passport and an identification card.

The authenticity of the video could not be immediately confirmed.

If it is genuine, the man would become the second American taken hostage in the past two weeks. A US citizen was among four peace activists taken hostage on November 27 by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness.

Two Canadians and a Briton were also part of that group.

In Washington, US President George W Bush said yesterday that the US will work for the return of captive Americans in Iraq, but will not submit to terrorist tactics. “We, of course, don’t pay ransom for any hostages,” Mr Bush said.

“What we will do, of course, is use our intelligence-gathering to see if we can’t help locate them.”

A French engineer was taken hostage in Baghdad Monday and a German aid worker was abducted near Mosul on November 26.

Police Major Falah al-Mohammedawi said he didn’t have any additional information yesterday about the kidnapping of the French engineer, Bernard Planche, but that the interior ministry had distributed Mr Planche’s photo to the all checkpoints around Baghdad.

At least 2,129 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count.