Bomber Kills 25 Iraqi Recruits

29/07/2005| IslamWeb

A bomber has blown himself up among a group of Iraqi army recruits in northern Iraq, killing 25 people and wounding 35.

The al-Qaida organisation in Iraq said in an internet statement it carried out the bomb attack.

It was not possible to authenticate the claim.

Police said the attack occurred on Friday outside a municipal building in Rabia, a town 80km northwest of Mosul, close to the Syrian border.

Officials said the attack occurred in the midst of recruits who were undergoing training in a security controlled area and that some of the guards might have knowingly allowed the attacker to enter.

The attack occurred as the United States has placed new urgency on the training of Iraqi soldiers and police in the hope that they can assume greater security responsibility so US and other foreign troops can begin going home next year.

Police and army recruits are frequently targeted by armed groups.

Common target

In recent months, attacks by bombers strapped with explosives, as opposed to driving explosives-laden cars, have become more common. Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, and areas to its west have been a focus of armed attacks over the past year.

US forces believe armed groups have been flowing into Iraq across the border from Syria.

Meanwhile, three people were killed and 17 others injured when a car bomb exploded near a group of Iraqis drinking alcohol on the banks of the Tigris river in Baghdad, the Interior Ministry reported.

The vehicle exploded near a bridge in the Sunni Muslim Adhamiyah district of the capital. An AFP journalist on the scene saw three cars ablaze.

In another attack, Faisal Khazali, the shaikh of the Khazali tribe, was shot dead when gunmen opened fire as he drove through the Al-Alam neighbourhood in southwestern Baghdad, the interior ministry said.

PHOTO CAPTION

US soldiers in Mosul, northern Iraq, July 29, 2005. (REUTERS)