New Media Journal.us
Source: Christian Science Monitor
More than 50 people were killed and another 100 were wounded Tuesday morning when an Iraq suicide bomber struck an Army recruiting center in Baghdad.
The attack comes as United States troops in Iraq are set to switch from a combat to a training role at the end of this month. Though the US withdrawal from Iraq appears to be in track, the country's internal politics remain gridlocked. It has been almost six months since Iraq elections, and the political factions have yet to reach agreement with each other on forming a new government.
With temperatures of 120 degrees, little electricity, and an expected increase in politically linked religious fervor around the Muslim holy month, Ramadan was expected to bring a spike in Iraq attacks, The Christian Science Monitor reported earlier this month.
The Los Angeles Times called Tuesday's suicide blast the "bloodiest single attack in months." It occurred in the Bab al-Muadham neighborhood of central Baghdad shortly after 7:30 a.m., when a bomber with explosives hidden under his vest blew himself up in a crowd outside the Army's 11th division headquarters.
The attack came less than two weeks before the end of US troops' combat mission in Iraq. US troops are expected to remain in Iraq in a training and support role until a complete withdrawal planned for December 2011.
Tensions have been rising as the deadlocked negotiations for a new government drag into a sixth month, and there are fears insurgents will try to take advantage of the political and security vacuum to stage a comeback.
After Aug. 31, Iraqi security forces will assume full responsibility for security in the country, assisted only by small teams of US advisers and trainers. Insurgents have been stepping up their attacks against the security forces in recent weeks, mostly with small-scale shootings and assassinations...
The New York Times had details from eyewitnesses at the scene, who said it was the last day of recruiting and the bomber had taken everyone off-guard. The bomber set off the explosion just after military police asked him for identity papers, a witness told the Times.
Private Younes Ali, 24, said that the bomber timed the explosion just as an Iraqi Army brigadier in charge of recruiting arrived to take the identification papers of the would-be recruits.
“All the recruits were sitting on the ground,” Pvt. Ali said. “When the brigadier arrived they were ordered to stand up. Immediately after that, the bomber exploded himself.”
