A powerful explosion outside a training facility has killed several Iraqi police and police recruits today as they emerged from a course on highway patrols in the tense western Iraqi city of Ramadi, witnesses and police officials said.
The blast, which happened 60 miles west of Baghdad, occurred as the police were stepping out of a one-story building in the town.
Witnesses said as many as seven people, most of them police recruits, were believed killed, and many others injured.
Hours after the blast, at least three United States helicopters hovered over the scene, and military vehicles roamed the city.
US soldiers at the blast site refused to comment, saying they were still investigating. Military officials in Baghdad also said they had no information.
But witnesses in Ramadi said the explosion appeared to be caused by a powerful roadside bomb that detonated as the police were leaving the building. "The explosion was so loud it was heard all over the city," said Iraqi police Lt. Hamed Ali.
Ramadi, one of several Sunni-majority towns along the Euphrates River west of Baghdad, was a stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein, and has been the site of frequent attacks which have killed Americans as well as Iraqis.
Insurgents frequently target police stations and others deemed to be co-operating with the US-led occupation.
The explosion came a day after the release of a new audiotape purportedly from Saddam Hussein which has threatened to energise anti-US forces and deepen the ongoing insurgency.
The tape was broadcast yesterday on the Qatar-based television station Al-Jazeera, and the speaker has characteristics similar to Saddam's style of speech, particularly his slow and drawn-out pronunciation. He also maintained Saddam's usual defiant, yet calm, demeanour.
"Oh brothers and sisters, I relay to you good news: Jihad (holy war) cells and brigades have been formed," the speaker on the audiotape said, addressing the Iraqi people.
"There is resistance, and I know you are hearing about this. Not a day passes without them (suffering) losses in our great land thanks to our great mujahedeen," the voice said. "The coming days will, God willing, be days of hardship and trouble for the infidel invaders."
AP