40 die in suicide attack on Iraqi army base

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people waiting outside an Iraqi army recruitment centre amid rising tension between the dominant Shi’ite leaders and US forces over a deadly night raid in Baghdad.

Ten other Iraqis were killed in separate rebel violence across Iraq on Monday, seven of them in mortar attacks in south Baghdad which wounded 35 others, while 16 trading company employees were kidnapped by gunmen in the capital. The suicide bombing on the recruitment centre at an Iraqi army base called Tamarat near the town of Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border was the deadliest single attack in Iraq since a January assault on police recruits in Ramadi.A militant coalition led by al Qaeda’s Iraq branch claimed the blast and identified the suicide bomber as a Saudi.”A brother…from Mohammed’s Peninsula (Saudi Arabia)…wearing an explosives belt plunged this morning into the crusaders’ base northeast of Tal Afar and infiltrated among hundreds of recruits before blowing himself up,” said the statement on the Internet by the Mujahedeen Consultative Council.The council, established in January, groups seven Sunni Muslim armed factions and is dominated by al Qaeda’s Iraqi branch led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.The attack came hours after US-backed Iraqi special forces carried out a Sunday night raid in northeast Baghdad killing at least 16 Shi’ites and triggering a raft of anti-US reactions from the dominant Shi’ite political parties.President Jalal Talabani ordered an investigation in the raid.”This is a grave and dangerous incident,” Talabani told reporters.The Shi’ite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which holds the largest bloc of seats in the parliament and controls the government, vociferously condemned the action which it said targeted a mosque full of worshippers.”US forces and Iraqi special forces committed a heinous crime by attacking the Mustafa mosque in the neighbourhood of Ur,” said Jawad Maliki, the number two of outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari’s Dawa Party, reading from a statement.In a slap at the Americans, Maliki called on the Iraqi security forces to take full charge of security in the country.The US military said the operation was against an insurgent cell and did not involve any mosque.”Iraqi commandos and soldiers from the Iraqi counter-terrorism force killed 16 insurgents and wounded three others during a house-to-house search on an objective with multiple structures,” the US military said in a statement.The military admitted that members of the US special forces were present in an advisory capacity but said that “no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation.”Large numbers of weapons were found, including dozens of assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, two heavy machine guns and material to make explosives, it said.Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, said that the the scene in the aftermath of the raid had been altered for propaganda reasons.”After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different than it was,” said Chiarelli in a conference call with reporters.A dental technician with the Ministry of Health who had been taken hostage the day before was also rescued.He had been tortured for the last 12 hours, the military added.Since the bombing of a Shi’ite shrine last month in Samarra, Iraq’s Sunnis have warned that Shi’ite death squads have been executing members of their minority community.Dozens of bodies, showing signs of torture, have been dumped daily around the capital.The raid came at a particularly tense time with the US putting increasing pressure on Iraq’s political factions to form a long awaited national unity government in hopes of averting a slide into total chaos.- Nampa-AFPThe suicide bombing on the recruitment centre at an Iraqi army base called Tamarat near the town of Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border was the deadliest single attack in Iraq since a January assault on police recruits in Ramadi.A militant coalition led by al Qaeda’s Iraq branch claimed the blast and identified the suicide bomber as a Saudi.”A brother…from Mohammed’s Peninsula (Saudi Arabia)…wearing an explosives belt plunged this morning into the crusaders’ base northeast of Tal Afar and infiltrated among hundreds of recruits before blowing himself up,” said the statement on the Internet by the Mujahedeen Consultative Council.The council, established in January, groups seven Sunni Muslim armed factions and is dominated by al Qaeda’s Iraqi branch led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.The attack came hours after US-backed Iraqi special forces carried out a Sunday night raid in northeast Baghdad killing at least 16 Shi’ites and triggering a raft of anti-US reactions from the dominant Shi’ite political parties.President Jalal Talabani ordered an investigation in the raid.”This is a grave and dangerous incident,” Talabani told reporters.The Shi’ite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which holds the largest bloc of seats in the parliament and controls the government, vociferously condemned the action which it said targeted a mosque full of worshippers.”US forces and Iraqi special forces committed a heinous crime by attacking the Mustafa mosque in the neighbourhood of Ur,” said Jawad Maliki, the number two of outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari’s Dawa Party, reading from a statement.In a slap at the Americans, Maliki called on the Iraqi security forces to take full charge of security in the country.The US military said the operation was against an insurgent cell and did not involve any mosque.”Iraqi commandos and soldiers from the Iraqi counter-terrorism force killed 16 insurgents and wounded three others during a house-to-house search on an objective with multiple structures,” the US military said in a statement.The military admitted that members of the US special forces were present in an advisory capacity but said that “no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation.”Large numbers of weapons were found, including dozens of assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, two heavy machine guns and material to make explosives, it said.Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, said that the the scene in the aftermath of the raid had been altered for propaganda reasons.”After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different than it was,” said Chiarelli in a conference call with reporters.A dental technician with the Ministry of Health who had been taken hostage the day before was also rescued.He had been tortured for the last 12 hours, the military added.Since the bombing of a Shi’ite shrine last month in Samarra, Iraq’s Sunnis have warned that Shi’ite death squads have been executing members of their minority community.Dozens of bodies, showing signs of torture, have been dumped daily around the capital.The raid came at a particularly tense time with the US putting increasing pressure on Iraq’s political factions to form a long awaited national unity government in hopes of averting a slide into total chaos.- Nampa-AFP