Police: Iraq suicide bombers kill 28 army recruits
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press Jul 15
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits Tuesday in an Iraqi province where devastating attacks persist despite security improvements elsewhere. At least 28 people died, the Iraqi police and military said.
The bombings came ahead of what Iraqi military officials have described as an imminent offensive in troubled Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. The U.S. military says it will support that effort, which it called an enhancement of existing patrols and actions there.
Violence also flared in the northern city of Mosul, where a dozen people died in bombings on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.
The blasts at the Saad military camp in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala, recalled the scenes of mass terror and grief that were almost a daily routine in previous years. Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in about four years.
AP Television News footage showed medical staff unloading white body bags from ambulances, soldiers on their knees weeping over slain comrades and the wounded moaning as they lay on gurneys and even on the bloodstained floor of a hospital room.
A man who suffered a leg injury said the first explosion drew a crowd that tried to evacuate victims. The second bomber then detonated his explosive vest among the rescuers, said the man, who did not want to be named because of safety concerns.
The explosions killed 28 people and wounded at least 57 recruits, a police official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
A military officer in Baqouba, 35 miles from Baghdad, confirmed the death toll and said soldiers were among the casualties. He also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason.
The U.S. military said in a statement that the attack occurred around 8 a.m. It said 20 police recruits were killed and 55 were wounded. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the reports.
It was the bloodiest attack in Iraq since June 17, when a truck bombing killed 63 people in Hurriyah, a Baghdad neighborhood that saw some of the worst Shiite-Sunni slaughter in 2006.
Diyala is critical to Baghdad's security because of its strategic importance as an entrance to the capital and a threat to supply routes going north. The volatile, ethnically mixed area also borders Iran, which the United States has accused of helping militants to stage attacks on American troops.
