60 killed and 125 injured in suicide attack in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP):

A suicide bomber blew himself up yesterday killing 60 persons and injuring 125 others, in one of the bloodiest bombings in the Iraqi capital.

The massive strike just outside a major division headquarters and recruitment centre is an embarrassment to Iraqi security forces and casts doubts on their ability to protect themselves and the nation just two weeks before all but 50,000 United States troops head home.

Iraqi military spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for enlisting the bomber, whose upper body he said was found at the scene of the blast.

Yasir Ali, who had been waiting outside the military headquarters since 4 a.m. with about 1,000 other hopeful recruits, said he saw the bomber, describing him as a blond young man. Ali said the bomber was sitting quietly among the recruits, then walked up to an officer collecting ID cards and blew himself up.

Flying body parts

"Severed hands and legs were falling over me," said Ali said, adding he was about 54 feet (15 metres) away from the bomber. "I was soaked with blood from the body parts and wounded and dead people falling over and beside me."

Insurgents have threatened to step up attacks ahead of the US troop departure and violence has increased in recent weeks. Iraqi army, police and other security forces have been targeted, but civilians also have been killed by the hundreds.

Yesterday's blast took place around 7:30 a.m. outside the former Iraqi Ministry of Defence building that now houses the army's 11th division headquarters. The site receives about 250 new recruits each week as Iraqi security forces try to bolster their ranks to prepare for the US military's looming withdrawal after seven years of war.

Bodies of young men, some still clutching job applications and other documents in their hands, could be seen scattered about at the blast site, which Iraqi soldiers closed off. US helicopters hovered overhead as frantic Iraqis showed up to search for relatives.

At least two recruits who witnessed that attack raised the possibility that a car had also exploded at the scene, which could account for the high death toll. But al-Moussawi blamed the deaths on a single suicide bomber.