Suicide car bomb brings fresh carnage to Iraq

A SUICIDE car bomb exploded on a busy Iraqi street yesterday, killing at least 68 people - almost all civilians - in one of the deadliest single insurgent attacks since the US invasion.

The bomb shredded a bus full of passengers and nearby shops.

"These were all innocent Iraqis, there were no Americans," one angry man shouted as Iraqis tried to cover the dead with pieces of cardboard.

Witnesses said the bomb targeted men waiting outside the al-Najda police station trying to sign up for the force.

The blast killed 68 people and wounded 56 others, according to Saad al-Amili, a Health Ministry official. "It's all civilian casualties at this stage," US Army Captain Marshall Jackson said.

The attack came three days ahead of a crucial national conference aimed at creating an interim assembly, widely considered a vital step toward democracy. The blast demonstrated the willingness and ability of insurgents to carry out devastating attacks even after the handover of power to a new Iraqi government in June.

The bloodshed could fuel anger among some Iraqis over civilian casualties from attacks that insurgents say target the US and the pro-American administration. US forces have been trying to lower their profile and put Iraqi security forces in the front lines of the fight with militants.

Iraqi officials - who said they expected attacks to intensify as the country tries to edge toward democracy - fear Saturday's national conference will be a major target for attack.

During the conference, some 1,000 delegates are to put together an assembly that will work alongside Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's government.

"The terrorists' goal is to hamper the police work, terrorise our citizens and show that the government is unable to protect the Iraqi people, and this will not happen," said Hamid al-Bayati, an Iraqi deputy foreign minister.

South-east of Baghdad, Iraqi forces backed by US and Ukrainian troops launched a search for guerrillas in the city of Suwariyah, sparking a gunbattle in which 35 insurgents and seven Iraqi police officers were killed. Another 10 soldiers from the Iraqi security forces were wounded and 40 insurgents were captured Polish Lieutenant Colonel Artur Domanski, a multinational force spokesman, said.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed an American soldier and injured three others north-west of Baghdad yesterday. The exact location was not made clear.

The soldier's death raised the toll of US personnel killed in Iraq to at least 906 since the war began.