Suicide car bomb attack at army recruiting centre leaves 46 dead

A SUICIDE attacker blew up a car in a crowd of hundreds of men waiting outside a Baghdad army recruiting centre yesterday, killing at least 46 in the second bombing in two days targeting Iraqis working with the coalition.

The attack, a day after a suicide bombing at a police station killed up to 53 people, backed threats insurgents would step up violence to disrupt the planned June 30 handover of power to the Iraqis.

A campaign to accelerate attacks against Iraqi "collaborators" and Shiite Muslims was outlined in a document sent to al-Qaida leaders that was intercepted by the US military. The letter, copies of which were released yesterday by US authorities, was believed to have been written by a Jordanian militant in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who said he sought to spark a Sunni-Shiite civil war in an attempt to wreck the handover.

The US army announced a $10 million bounty for the capture of al-Zarqawi.

There was no immediate indication who was behind yesterday's attack but Colonel Ralph Baker said it resembled "the operating technique" of al-Qaida or Ansar al-Islam, a radical Muslim group linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network.

The blast tore into army volunteers waiting outside the recruitment centre less than a mile from the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the US administration has its headquarters. Col Baker said a man driving a white 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra detonated about 300 to 500lbs of explosives.

The Interior Ministry said 46 people were killed and 54 wounded.

Charred debris from the vehicle was scattered across the road in front of the centre as rain-soaked troops and FBI agents looked for evidence at the blast scene.

The recruitment centre was surrounded by barbed wire and had sandbagged posts in front of it. But around 300 Iraqis were gathered outside the centre's locked gates, waiting for it to open, and were completely exposed. Some were lined up to join the military, others waiting to depart for a training camp in Jordan.

"I was just telling my buddy that it was very dangerous to be standing here," said Ali Hussein, 22. He lay on a bed soaked in his blood at Karkh Hospital He said he saw the car approaching the crowd. "Then I felt nothing but fire around me."

Ghasan Sameer, 32, an officer in the new Iraqi army who also was wounded, said the car drove into the crowd and ran over some people before exploding.

It was at least the ninth vehicle bombing in Iraq this year.

The suicide attacks came as a UN team in Iraq tried to work out differences between Iraqi factions on how to pick a new government ahead of the planned transfer of sovereignty.

The Iraqi Governing Council said the attacks aim to "destabilise Iraq, and impede the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis. They want to keep Iraq occupied and kill our hopes of establishing a democratic system in the country. Our determination to proceed with our plans is undiminished."