Iraq suicide bomber has 'al-Qaida's fingerprints'

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 today.

A hospital official in Iskandariyah, near Baghdad, said at least 50 people were killed and 50 others wounded.

In Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, US deputy operations chief, said said the attack “does show many” of al-Qaida’s “fingerprints,” including the size of the bomb – 500 pounds – and the large number of civilian casualties.

Iraqi police Lieutenant General Ahmed Kadhum Ibrahim said in Baghdad that the engine number of the red pick-up truck used in the attack indicated it used to belong to a former intelligence officer in Saddam Hussein’s regime.

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 led coalition, especially ahead of the planned June 30 transfer of sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi government.

US officials in Baghdad reported 35 dead and 75 wounded but said those figures could be low since Iraqi authorities were handling the investigation.

Iraqi police commander, Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Rahim Saleh, said the attack was a suicide operation, carried out by a driver who detonated a the pick-up as it passed the station.

“It was a suicide operation and a cowardly act,” Saleh said.

Saleh said most of the victims were Iraqi civilians. No coalition forces were hurt.

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

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

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 the area around the station and refused to allow journalists near the site.

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.”

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

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

Another witness said body parts littered the street.

“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.”

Hours later, 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.

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.

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 – were 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.

It was the second instance of a suicide bomber carrying out an attack with explosives on his body.

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.