Two suicide bombers kill 27 in Iraq's Diyala

Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:00am EDT

* Bombers hit recruitment centre for Iraqi security forces

* Iraq has promised crackdown in Diyala province

* Parliament vote on local elections law may get delayed



By Tim Cocks

BAGHDAD, July 15 (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers killed 27 people and wounded 68 at a recruitment centre for the Iraqi army north of Baghdad on Tuesday, an Iraqi security source said, just days after the government promised a crackdown in the area.

The security source said most of those killed were recruits.

The U.S. military said 20 recruits were killed and 55 wounded when the bombers blew themselves up in a queue outside a security base in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

The attack follows a string of bombings in recent months in Diyala province, of which Baquba is the capital.

Sunni Islamist al Qaeda has sought to stoke tensions in religiously mixed Diyala. It has frequently targeted Iraqi security forces and new recruits.

One witness described devastation at the scene.

"An explosion shook everything. I saw chunks of flesh scattered everywhere and some recruits were calling for their friends," said wounded recruit Nadhim Hameed, 19.

"There were people on the ground with blood stains on them -- it was chaos. Then another bomb exploded and I woke up here."

Reuters television footage showed men and women weeping over bodies wrapped in white shrouds at a local hospital. Medical staff rushed around with stretchers to treat the wounded.

Iraqi security forces are poised to launch a major crackdown in Diyala, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday, the latest military operation aimed at stabilising the country.

Recent bombings could be al Qaeda's way of showing it is still a threat, despite improving security, U.S. officials say.

"What's happening here is the enemy knows the government and security forces are getting stronger," said Major Peggy Kageleiry, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military in northern Iraq.

The Interior Ministry has not given a date for the start of the Diyala crackdown.

U.S. forces have been conducting security operations in Diyala since the beginning of the year and would take part in the new Iraqi push, the military has said.

Al Qaeda has sought to regroup in Iraq's north after sustained military campaigns pushed the militants out of their former strongholds in Iraq's western Anbar province and Baghdad.



DIYALA WILL BE LATEST OFFENSIVE

The Diyala crackdown will be the latest Iraqi-led offensive aimed at stamping government authority on areas once in the hands of Sunni Arab insurgents or Shi'ite militias.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say a campaign against al Qaeda in the northern city of Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province has helped reduce violence there. Other operations have targeted Shi'ite militias in the southern provinces of Basra and Maysan.

Attacks across Iraq were down 85 percent in June from a year ago, the Iraqi military said last week.

Violence has fallen sharply due to a U.S. troop buildup, a rebellion by Sunni Arab tribal leaders against al Qaeda and a truce by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

That has focused more attention on national reconciliation and a series of laws Washington hopes will bridge the divide between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Parliament was scheduled to vote on a provincial elections law on Tuesday but two lawmakers said last-minute wrangling over the draft could push the vote back.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said the elections would be held on Oct. 1, although parliamentarians have previously said that would be unlikely given many preparations for the vote could not be undertaken until the law was passed.

The elections are seen by Washington as a way to boost reconciliation by giving factions that boycotted the last polls in 2005, especially Sunni Arabs, a chance to claim a stake in the political process at the local level.

The U.N. special representative to Iraq said early this month there would be enough time to hold the elections by the end of the year if parliament passed the law in July. (Additional reporting by Khalid al-Ansary; Writing by Mohammed Abbas and Tim Cocks; Editing by Dean Yates and Ibon Villelabeitia)



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