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Iraqi soldiers guard suspects after suicide bombing massacre of Baaquba police

More Savage desperation from Al Qaeda:

Iraq Media’s Report Before AP’s:

Diala, Oct 29, (VOI) – Twenty policemen were killed and 25 others wounded in an initial count of a deadly suicide bombing in Baaquba on Monday morning, an official security source said.

“A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up amidst a gathering of forces of the Diala police command’s 2nd quick intervention contingent in central Baaquba, killing 20 policemen and injuring 25 others, including a child and a woman,” the source, who refused to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

“The policemen were having their morning training on the main road leading to the Blue Dome (the headquarters of the local council) when a suicide bomber attacked them,” the source added.

Baaquba, the capital of Diala province, is 57 km northeast of Baghdad.

AP Version:

BAGHDAD (AP) - A suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up Monday among recruits gathered outside a police camp in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 27 cops and wounding 20 others, police and hospital officials said.

The recruits in Baqouba were waiting to be allowed inside the camp for the day’s training when the suicide bomber blew himself up in their midst, according to a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, whose militants have repeatedly targeted police and army recruits to discourage Iraqis from joining the country’s nascent security forces.

Mohammed al-Kirrawi, a doctor at the Baqouba general hospital, said most of the victims were struck by iron balls packed with the explosives to achieve maximum casualties. He said the hospital lacked the necessary equipment to save many of the wounded.

“Among the wounded, there are seven in critical conditions and there is little hope that they will survive,” he said.

Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, is the capital of Diyala province, where hundreds of Sunni Arab tribesmen and insurgents have in recent months joined the U.S. and Iraqi forces in the fight against al-Qaida.

The attack was the latest to target non-Al Qaeda authority in an apparent bid to intimidate them from joining the U.S.-sponsored grass roots strategy that the military says has contributed to a recent drop in violence.

A 22-year-old Sunni man from Baqouba’s central Tahrir area said he was among a group of some 60 recruits when the blast struck.

Akram Salman said it must have been an inside job because the suicide bomber apparently was able to penetrate heavy security surrounding the police camp without being searched.

He said police failed to stop the bomber when he changed course suddenly from the main road toward the recruits.

“The police are infiltrated. Many people join the police but they have affiliations with al-Qaida. These infiltrators made it easy for the bomber to attack us,” he said. “There are two main checkpoints on the main road leading to the camp, it would be impossible for a man on a bicycle to pass without being properly searched.”

“Al-Qaida has threatened us before and prevented us from joining the police,” he said. “They slaughtered many policemen, burned their houses, killed their families and blew up their headquarters. Now, when the people have defeated al-Qaida and cooperated with the government, al-Qaida staged this operation to show their presence and to give a message that they are still in control.”

Elsewhere in northern Iraq, a parked car bomb exploded near a market in Siniyah, just west of Beiji, killing at least four people and wounding 13, according to the media office of the Salahuddin provincial police department.

Police said the bomb apparently was targeting a police patrol but missed its target, killing four members of a family who were heading to the market to do their morning shopping.

A new commander, Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling of the 1st Armored Division, assumed control of U.S. forces in northern Iraq on Sunday, acknowledging that violence remains high in the area but expressing confidence that the military has al-Qaida on the run.

“The levels are still high in some of the northern provinces,” he said. “But while they’re still high … they have been decreasing significantly.”

“We are in, I believe, a pursuit operation with al-Qaida,” he said. “They are targeting the concerned local citizens, the police stations and some of the gathering places of sheiks … specifically to try and deter the Iraqi people from moving forward.”