Seven killed in suicide attack on Iraq army base

05 Sep 2010 10:14:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
* At least 7 dead, 22 wounded

* Second attack on base in two weeks

* Political tensions simmer after March vote

(Updates death toll, adds details, background)

By Muhanad Mohammed

BAGHDAD, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Suicide bombers and gunmen tried to storm an army base in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding 22 less than a week after Washington declared U.S. combat operations in Iraq over, officials said.

Insurgents are targeting Iraqi police and troops as the U.S. military gradually pulls out, while the failure of Iraq's political leaders six months after an election to agree on a new government has also stoked tensions.

Sunday's attack took place in broad daylight, just over two weeks after dozens of Iraqi army recruits and soldiers were killed by another suicide bomber at the same base.

A police source said seven soldiers were killed and 22 wounded in at least two explosions. An Interior Ministry source said seven people were killed and 21 wounded in the attack, of which 4 of the dead and 15 of the wounded were soldiers.

The Interior Ministry source said gunmen opened fire on the entrance of the army base, then two suicide bombers on foot tried to storm the gate but were stopped and killed. A third suicide bomber on foot was shot and injured, the source said.

Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi and a federal police official said the attack also involved at least one suicide bomber in a car. Moussawi put the death toll at two, with eight people wounded.

"It was a suicide car bomber targeting the main entrance of Rusafa military command," Moussawi said.

"There are bodies and body parts but we don't know if they belong to attackers or civilians."

Conflicting accounts from different sources are common in the chaotic aftermath of bomb attacks in Iraq.

GUNFIRE Residents in the neighbourhood reported extensive shooting after the explosion and said the gunfire continued for more than an hour after the attack.

Witnesses said they saw gunmen in the mainly Sunni neighbourhood of al-Fadel, which lies next to the army base and was an al Qaeda stronghold at the height in 2006/07 of the sectarian warfare unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Moussawi said the shooting occurred when soldiers fired into the air to keep onlookers away, fearing there could be a second attack.

The base was a defence ministry headquarters under Saddam Hussein and now serves as an army recruitment centre as well as a military command.

At least 57 recruits and soldiers were killed and 123 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the same army base on Aug. 17. [ID:nLDE67G06K]

Tensions are simmering in Iraq six months after an inconclusive election that produced no outright winner.

Coalition talks among the country's main Shi'ite-led blocs and a Sunni-backed cross-sectarian alliance that took a narrow lead in the March 7 vote have made little progress.

The end of the U.S. combat mission 7-1/2 years after the invasion to topple Saddam has raised fears of a return to broader bloodshed and of increased attacks by Sunni Islamist insurgents. Iraq's 660,000-strong security forces had to be rebuilt from scratch after being disbanded after the invasion.

U.S. leaders said last week the Iraq war was in its final stages and that Iraqi security forces are capable of countering violence in the country, but many Iraqis do not believe their army and police are ready for the task. (Additional reporting by Suadad al-Salhy, Ahmed Rasheed and Reuters Television; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Michael Christie)