Suicide bombers kill 36 at Iraq police academy

By Deepa Babington

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two suicide bombers struck at Baghdad’s
police academy on Tuesday, killing at least 36 officers and
cadets and wounding more than 50, officials said.

Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the bloodiest
attack in three weeks, saying in an Internet statement that
“two brothers” had carried out the attack on a police force it
said was persecuting the Sunni Arab minority.

The Shi’ite-led government, facing an election next week
amid daily violence, denies such accusations.

One American contractor was wounded but no U.S. troops were
hurt, said the U.S. military, which put the casualty toll at 27
dead and 50 wounded. The military initially blamed the attack
on two female bombers, but later said they were male.

An Interior Ministry official said 36 were killed and 72
injured, while one police officer said 37 died and 76 were
hurt.

The first explosion occurred at 12:45 p.m. (0945 GMT) as
police cadets were going to lunch after shooting practice, said
Nizal Mahmoud Khalaf, a police trainee who survived the blasts.
The second bomber struck as the cadets ran for shelter, he told
Reuters outside a hospital where the wounded were treated.

The U.S. military, which initially said the bombers walked
into a classroom and blew themselves up, later said one of the
bombers struck near a group of students outside a classroom.

Thinking the explosion was an attack from outside, Iraqi
police officers and students ran for shelter to a bunker —
where the second bomber detonated his vest strapped with
explosives, the military said.

The attack on the academy in eastern Baghdad was the worst
of its kind since two suicide bombers killed at least 74 people
and reduced two crowded Shi’ite mosques to rubble during Friday
prayers in the northeast Iraqi town of Khanaqin on November 18.

Violence in Iraq has escalated ahead of next Thursday’s
parliamentary elections, as Sunni Arab-led insurgents battle a
Shi’ite and Kurdish-led government backed by the United States.

The Iraqi police and army, not as well equipped as their
American counterparts, have been frequent targets.

Tuesday’s attack was the worst on Iraqi security forces
since a suicide bomber attacked a crowded Baghdad restaurant
frequented by police and soldiers nearly a month ago, killing
35 people.

More recently, insurgents attacked an Iraqi army patrol
with a roadside bomb north of Baghdad on Saturday and then
ambushed the unit, killing 11 soldiers.