BAGHDAD, 11 July 2005 — A man strapped with explosives blew himself up yesterday at a military recruiting center, one of a series of suicide attacks that killed at least 48 people. Five US troops were wounded in a bombing as Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari complained Americans were too quick to fire on civilians deemed suspicious.
Elsewhere, a Shiite mother and seven of her children were found shot dead in their beds yesterday in Baghdad. One boy survived, police said. The distraught father, who was not at home at the time, blamed the killings on sectarian hatred.
The US military yesterday released Iranian-American Cyrus Kar who has been detained in Iraq for nearly two months, officials said. Kar, a 44-year-old aspiring filmmaker from Los Angeles, was detained May 17 near Balad when potential bomb parts were found in a taxi he was riding in.
During a press conference, Prime Minister Jaafari criticized US and multinational forces for shooting at Iraqi civilians who act suspiciously near patrols or military areas, saying such cases should be handled in a “civilized” way.
“We have spoken with officials here and told them about a phenomenon of killing Iraqis for reasons of suspicion,” Jaafari said. “Some of the multinational forces are killing Iraqis and I gave them two examples.”
He said troops should handle threats in a “civilized” way, such as shooting at tires instead of passengers.
Yesterday’s deadliest attack occurred at the army recruiting center at Muthana airfield in central Baghdad when a man dressed in civilian clothes detonated two explosive-laden belts among a crowd of recruits, killing 25 people and wounding 49, US and hospital officials said. Most of the dead were believed to have been recruits.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility in a web posting but the authenticity could not be verified. In February, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the same garrison, killing 21 people.
Two suicide car bombers killed at least seven Iraqi customs officials at the Walid border crossing point into Syria, the US military said. Syrian authorities closed the crossing point, turning back about 300 Iraqis trying to return home, a Syrian source said on condition of anonymity.
Separately, a suicide car bomber rammed into a police convoy carrying an Iraqi brigadier general near the northern city of Mosul, killing five policemen and wounding three, the US military and police said. The senior officer was not injured.
A suicide car bomb also exploded in Kirkuk, killing at least four civilians and wounding 15, according to police.
A second car bomb was rigged to explode as rescuers rushed to the scene, but it was found and detonated by American troops, police reported.
Two other suicide car bombers struck in Fallujah and Ramadi, the US Marines said. One Iraqi civilian was killed and one Marine was wounded.
Five American soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb in southeastern Baghdad, the US command said. They were reported in stable condition at a military hospital.
