Bomber kills 21 Iraqi recruits in suicide attack

A SUICIDE bomber killed at least 21 people and wounded nearly 30 at an Iraqi security forces recruitment centre in Baghdad yesterday in the deadliest insurgent attack since last month's historic election.

The blast came a day after suicide bombers killed 27 people in attacks in two Iraqi cities. Between them, the three bombs have shattered the lull in violence that followed the poll.

The al-Qaida wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the latest attack, as it did for Monday's blasts in the cities of Mosul and Baquba.

"Here come the convoys of martyrs to strike the headquarters of infidels and apostates, and this is the beginning of the escalation we had promised," the group said in an internet statement. It described the victims as "apostate pagan guards who are agents of the Jews and crusaders."

The vote count from Iraq's January 30 polls continued, but officials were not expected to give further results until today at the earliest. A Shi'ite alliance is still well in the lead, according to partial results, with a Kurdish coalition in second place and a bloc led by Mr Allawi in third.

In a move which may ease Western fears that Iraq will turn into a new Iran, a spokesman for the country's top Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani denied Mr Sistani was demanding Iraq's new constitution be based solely on sharia Islamic law.

Drafting a new constitution will be the main task of the new national assembly which will emerge from last month's vote. Police said the bomber's target was a truck carrying recruits into the base in a disused airport.

The US military said the bomber was believed to have been on foot. The US military said 21 were killed and 27 wounded. Iraq's interim government put the death toll at 22 or more, and said nearly 30 people were hurt. It said all of them were waiting in line to sign up for the police force.

Iraq's security forces have borne the brunt of attacks by insurgents. The US military is trying to build them up into a force capable of defeating the militants but says it needs more time, particularly to get local police divisions up to scratch.

US officials say Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will lobby NATO allies at a meeting in France this week to provide more money to help train Iraqis.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, police said a bomb outside a restaurant killed one Iraqi, and gunmen ambushed the convoy of a politician, killing two of his sons.

Mithal al-Alusi, who has been a vocal critic of Syria and Iran survived.

Three Iraqi soldiers and two insurgents were killed in a fight on a road south of Baghdad and in Samarra an Iraqi civilian was killed.