Winks Blog

15 Killed Today, 10 Killed Yesterday, 4 Bodies Found

Good Morning,

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents stepped up their campaign to stop Sunni Arabs from joining government security forces, killing 15 police recruits in a suicide attack Wednesday and fatally shooting three soldiers who recently had entered the Iraqi army, officials said.

Both attacks occurred in Anbar province, a mostly Sunni area west of Baghdad where some of Iraq's worst terrorist attacks and battles between Sunni-led insurgents and U.S. forces have taken place since the Iraq war began more than three years ago.

Recruiting Sunni Arabs for the security forces is a key goal for Iraqi officials and the U.S. military. Most members of the Iraqi military are Shiites and Kurds, and having a sectarian balance is seen as a way to quash the Sunni-dominated insurgency.

On Tuesday, Anbar Gov. Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani narrowly escaped a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy as he headed to work in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. The attack killed 10 Iraqi civilians and wounded five of al-Alwani's bodyguards, the U.S. military said.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up while standing in a line of recruits outside Fallujah's police headquarters, killing 15 people and wounding 30, said police 1st Lt. Omar Ahmed. Thirteen of the dead were recruits and two were policemen, Ahmed said.

The bomber, dressed in civilian clothes, struck outside the entrance of the police building, police said. His hidden bomb exploded several minutes after he joined the crowd of recruits waiting to enter the building and apply for jobs, Ahmed said.

At about the same time, police found the bodies of three soldiers from Fallujah who had been shot and dumped in Khaldiyah, a city west of their hometown, said Dr. Rafie Mahmoud.

On Sunday, the three men had graduated from basic training as part of the first all-Sunni class in the Iraqi army. On Tuesday, the bodies of four other Iraqi soldiers from that class were found in Ramadi, officials said.



Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 10:04 AM