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Iraq

Suicide bomber kills army recruits

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up among Iraqi army volunteers in a town near the Syrian border Friday, killing as many as 25 people. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility.

Police and army recruits have been a recurrent target of the Iraqi insurgency; on Friday, the U.S. military said insurgents also killed two Marines. The deaths brought U.S. fatalities this week to 11 - eight of them in combat.

The suicide bomber was "a portly young man carrying a bag in his hand and heading toward us," said Rashid Hamed, who was wounded while trying to volunteer for the army.

Iraqi police Brig. Gen. Saeed Ahmed and hospital officials said 25 people were killed and 35 wounded in the attack. U.S. authorities put the toll at 10 dead and 21 injured.

An Internet statement posted in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq said the group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, carried out the attack in Rabiah, a town 230 miles north of Baghdad. The statement's authenticity could not be verified.

The attack followed a grisly pattern repeated dozens of times in Iraq: suicide bombers detonating explosives among recruits or aiming vehicles into crowds of volunteers. Despite measures to boost security, Iraqi authorities seem powerless to stop the attacks.

Security around Iraqi installations has taken on new urgency as the United States and its partners seek to accelerate training of Iraqi forces so they can assume greater security responsibilities and enable U.S. and other foreign troops to begin going home next year.

Since the announcement of the new Iraqi government on April 28, at least 793 Iraqi security forces and at least 1,361 Iraqi civilians have been killed in 477 separate attacks, an Associated Press tally shows. The actual number is likely higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted. The AP tally is compiled from hospital, police and military officials cited in news stories, as well as accounts from reporters and photographers.

Two Marines were killed by insurgent gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in western Iraq, prompting U.S. jets to drop high-tech bombs that destroyed three buildings used by the guerrillas as firing positions, U.S. officials said. The Marines reported killing nine insurgents, five of them believed to be Syrians, in Thursday's clash about 170 miles west of Baghdad.

An Army soldier died in Baghdad from injuries suffered in a single-vehicle accident, the U.S. command said.

Late Friday, gunmen assassinated a Shiite tribal leader, Faisal Saad Essa, in Baghdad - an attack that could heighten tensions between Shiites and Sunni Arabs.

About 1,000 Sunnis staged a protest earlier in the day near the heavily guarded Green Zone, accusing the Shiite-dominated government's security forces of killing Sunnis under the guise of fighting terrorism. Protesters also demanded that American and other foreign troops leave the country.

Following attacks this month on diplomats in Baghdad, the Philippine Embassy has relocated its employees to Jordan, Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Jose Brillantes said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it captured a cell leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Ammar Abu Bara, also known as Amar Hussein Hasan, was arrested Wednesday in Mosul by members of the Army's 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, a U.S. statement said.

Abu Bara was taken into custody during a search operation, the statement said, adding that he replaced Abu Talha, a former terror cell leader for the Mosul area who was arrested last month.

WASHINGTON - The United States has charged a Dutch citizen with conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq, the first U.S. criminal case connected to terrorist activities there, the Justice Department said Friday.

Iraqi-born Wasem al-Delaema, 32, was arrested in May in the Dutch city of Amersfoort. On Wednesday, U.S. authorities filed a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington and asked the Dutch government to extradite him. U.S. authorities allege al-Delaema helped plot attacks near Fallujah in October 2003.

[Last modified July 30, 2005, 01:10:15]