Suicide bomber kills 50 in Iraq attack

A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people when he blew up his truck outside an Iraqi police station where dozens of men were queuing up to apply for jobs.

The Iraqi police commander in Iskandariyah, Lt. Col. Abdul Rahim Saleh, said the attack was a suicide operation, carried out by a driver who detonated a red pick-up truck as it passed by the station.

“I am sure it was a vehicle,” Saleh said. “We found its engine. It was a suicide operation and a cowardly act.” He said most of the victims appeared to be Iraqi civilians.

Iskandariyah hospital director Razaq Jabbar said his facility had received 50 dead and 50 injured – all believed to be Iraqis. He said he had heard that three others died at another hospital.

“This figure might increase,” he said. “There were some body parts that haven’t been identified yet. Some more bodies may be trapped under the rubble.”

US officials in Baghdad reported 35 dead and 75 wounded but said that figure could be low because Iraqi authorities were handling the investigation.

The explosion in the predominantly Shiite Muslim town, 30 miles south of Baghdad, reduced parts of the station to rubble.

The nearby street was littered with the wreckage of shattered vehicles as well as pieces of glass, bricks, mangled steel and pieces of clothing. Sand from protective bags reinforcing barricades was sprinkled over the street.

It was at least the eighth vehicle bombing in Iraq this year and followed warnings from occupation officials that insurgents would step up attacks against Iraqis who work with the US-led coalition, especially in the run up to the planned June 30 transfer of sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi government.

On Monday, US officials said a letter seized last month from an al-Qaida courier asked the terrorist leadership to help foment civil war between Sunnis and Shiites to undermine the coalition and the future Iraqi leadership.

The purported author of the letter was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Palestinian-Jordanian suspected of al-Qaida links. The author boasted of having organised 25 suicide attacks in Iraq.

US paratroopers sealed off area around the station and refused to allow journalists near the blast site.

In Baghdad, Lt. Col. Dan Williams, a coalition spokesman, said no coalition forces were killed or injured.

Hours after the attack, police opened fire in the air to disperse dozens of angry residents who stormed the wrecked police station after hearing rumours that the blast was caused by an American rocket.

“No, no to America’ the police are traitors not Sunnis, not Shiites, this crime was by the Americans,” the crowd shouted before dispersing.

Policeman Wissam Abdul-Karim said he was standing in front of the nearby courthouse when “I heard a very strong explosion” and “the blast threw me on the ground.”

“It was the day for applying for new recruits,” Abdul-Karim said. “There were tens of them waiting outside the police station.”

Another witness described the blast as “really strong” and said body parts littered the street near the station.

“There was not one body in one piece,” he said.

Dr Jabbar said some of the victims were policemen “but many more were civilians applying for jobs and passers-by.”

Malik Moussa, a 63-year-old lawyer, said he was walking to the police station when the blast occurred.

“I saw two cars totally burned out,” he said. ”Blood was gushing out of my right arm.”

Insurgents have mounted a string of car and suicide bombings in recent weeks. The deadliest so far has been in the northern city of Irbil on February 1 when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at two Kurdish party offices celebrating a Muslim holiday, killing at least 109 people.

The Baghdad Convention Centre, which houses the US military press centre and other coalition facilities, was evacuated today after bomb-sniffing dogs detected something suspicious, Williams, the coalition spokesman, said. The centre was later reopened.

On Monday, a suicide bomber walked up to the house of brothers Majid and Amer Ali Suleiman in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, and detonated explosives strapped to his body, witnesses said.

Three guards were seriously injured but the brothers – who are among the city’s most prominent tribal leaders working with coalition forces – escaped unhurt.

The bomber had approached the house earlier when the brothers were receiving callers, and was told to leave, the witnesses said.

Insurgents have repeatedly warned Iraqis not to cooperate with the Americans. The most recent threats were contained in pamphlets circulated in Ramadi and nearby Fallujah by a purported coalition of 12 insurgent groups.

Ramadi and Fallujah are located in the Sunni Triangle, a major centre of resistance to the occupation.

This is the second instance of a suicide bomber carrying out an attack with explosives on his body although several suicide car and truck bombings are not unknown.

Defence officials in Washington said American forces in Iraq have detained one of the remaining most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s government.

Muhsin Khadr al-Khafaji, number 48 on the 55 most-wanted list, was turned over last weekend to US troops in the Baghdad area, the officials said.