(Reuters) - A suicide bomber
driving an ambulance killed up
to 15 people and wounded
more than 50 in an attack on
Wednesday on an Iraqi police
training center in volatile
Diyala province, officials said.
Suspected Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militia
have stepped up attacks in recent months on
Iraqi policemen and soldiers, seeking to
undermine faith in the security forces before a full
U.S. military withdrawal by the end of this year.
Samira al-Shibli, a spokeswoman for the
provincial governor said 15 people were killed and
52 wounded in the blast in the city of Baquba, 65
km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Police sources in Baquba put the death toll at 14,
and 64 wounded. Ali Hussein, general manager
of Diyala health department, said only five were
killed, and 74 wounded.
One police source said there were two attackers.
One of them shot dead three security guards at
the gates of the training center, opening the way
for a second assailant to drive the ambulance in.
The blast caused part of the three-storey building,
where offices for different departments of Iraqi
police and security are located, to collapse, said
Lieutenant Colonel Hisham al-Tamimi, head of the
counter-terrorism department in Diyala.
"I can see hands and legs of dead policemen
sticking out from under the rubble," said a
policeman at the blast site.
Wednesday's attack was the second by a suicide
bomber in two days on Iraqi security forces. At
least 49 people were killed in former dictator
Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on
Tuesday when a suicide bomber attacked a line of
police recruits.
That was the bloodiest attack in Iraq since Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki won support in December
for his reappointment, ending a nine-month
stalemate that followed a March election.
Overall violence has fallen sharply since 2006-07
peak of the sectarian slaughter between once
dominant Sunnis and majority Shi'ites triggered
after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
But Sunni Islamist groups like al Qaeda still battle
Iraqi security forces, particularly in ethnically
mixed Diyala, Baghdad and the turbulent northern
province of Nineveh, and target the less visible
U.S. forces whenever they can.
POLITICS?
Analysts said recent attacks are probably not
related to the formation of the new Shi'ite-led
government, which includes the Sunni-backed
Iraqiya bloc.
Iraqiya won the most parliamentary seats in last
year's election and many feared its possible
exclusion from power could have led to a surge
in violence.
"Such explosions are common, due to the
security breaches and the inability of the security
apparatus to protect the people," said Iraqi
political analyst Abdul-Jabbar Ahmed, a professor
at Baghdad University.
"It is not the first time that such security breaches
happen, and it has nothing to do with the Iraqi
government leaning toward a specific
component."
In a separate incident on Wednesday, a suicide
car bomber killed two Shi'ite pilgrims and
wounded 16 on a road between Baquba and
Baghdad, police sources said.
Attacks against Shi'ites are expected to rise ahead
of the religious event of Arbain, which culminates
next week. Arbain marks a 40-day mourning
period for Imam Hussein, a grandson of the
Prophet Mohammad who was killed at the battle
of Kerbala in the 7th century and who is a central
figure of Shi'ite Islam.
Source: Http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70H18M20110119