A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up in a crowd of hundreds of men as they queued to join the Iraqi army in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 57 people in one of the worst attacks this year.
The violence led to increased fears about security in the capital as the US reduces its troop numbers and prepares to end all combat missions by August 31st. Tensions are high because of the protracted wrangling between rival politicians over the formation of a new government, with no solution in sight more than five months after March 7th elections.
The bombing near an army base in Maidan Square occurred at about 7.30am as soldiers formed the aspiring recruits into lines.
“I saw the bomber’s body in two parts and pieces of flesh all over the place,” said Ali Hussein, a police officer at the scene.
“It’s getting worse, there’s a lot of bad people who will do anything if you give them money,” he said.
Another policeman pointed to bloody footprints left by survivors as he described how they fled in panic. Nearby, dozens of sandals belonging to the victims and a small heap of clothes were stacked in piles, while large pools of blood were left to congeal in the sun.
In a country wracked by unemployment and poverty, the army and police have been key sources of jobs for young men. Many of those lining up in Maidan Square had slept there overnight after travelling from outside Baghdad.
“They are poor people, there are no other jobs. You cannot even find a labourer’s job,” said Mr Hussein.
Extremists have often targeted army and police recruits, and the Iraqi military blamed the attack on al-Qaeda.
However, ordinary Iraqis were questioning how the bomber had passed through military checkpoints undetected.
“If I was having a fight with someone, the police, the army, all the security will come, but where were the army and police when the suicide bomber got through?” asked a passer-by, who gave his name as Mohammed.
The square, which lies in a rundown neighbourhood had been cordoned off by police and army checkpoints.
This area was once a stronghold of the insurgency. A few hours after the attack, Iraqi army armoured cars lined one side of the square, some with covers on their spare wheels emblazoned with pictures of three smiling children and the slogan, “We deserve a future”.
But Mohammed said he feared a return to the sectarian violence that dragged the country perilously close to civil war after earlier elections in 2005. He vented his anger at politicians.
“There’s an old saying that if the fish smells rotten from the head, the rest of the body is the same,” he said.
Iraq has been plagued by a spate of bombings and assassinations as extremists take advantage of the political vacuum. Traffic police, normally unarmed, are being equipped with AK-47 assault rifles for the first time.
Amid the rubbish strewn across Maidan Square, army flyers offered rewards for information about a recent attack in Adhamiya, another Baghdad district, in which assailants killed 16 soldiers and police before planting an al-Qaeda flag. – ( Guardianservice)