Date Posted: Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Over 50 people were killed south of Baghdad in a bombing that claimed mostly civilian lives.

BAGHDAD, Feb 10 (MASNET & News Agencies) - A suspected truck bombing killed at least 55 people outside a police station south of the Iraqi capital in one of the deadliest attacks since U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein last spring.

The suspected bombing came after news that U.S. forces detained one of the remaining most-wanted members of the former dictator's regime and U.S. officials spoke of a "credible" plot linked to al-Qaeda to foment civil war in Iraq, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A Toyota pick-up truck exploded in Iskandariya, 30 miles from Baghdad, as hundreds of people queued outside the police station to fill in applications to join the force, police Lieutenant Hussein Sani said.

"I believe it was a suicide bombing," Colonel Doug Mubari of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division told AFP at the scene of the blast, which also left more than 65 wounded.

"One of the messages I want to convey is that the people who did that, I don't know who, are attacking innocent people. The target was not the police," Mubari argued.

The provincial governor said all of the dead were locals, including some policemen. "No Muslim could have done this. It appears the amount of explosives used was huge because it killed so many and devastated the buildings," said Imad Lifty.

Iraqi police officers said the blast occurred at 9:30 am.

"It was a car bombing, a Toyota pick-up truck with a large amount of explosives," said Mubari.

The explosion in this predominantly Shiite Muslim town reduced parts of the station to rubble. The nearby street was littered with the wreckage of shattered vehicles as well as pieces of glass, bricks, mangled steel and pieces of clothing. Sand from bags reinforcing protective barricades was spread over the street, reports the Associated Press (AP).

An AFP photographer saw a large crater approximately 25 yards from the police station, damage to the facade of the one-story building, and some 15 cars wrecked by the blast.

The police station stands on the main road to Baghdad. U.S. troops sealed off the area with Humvee all-terrain vehicles.

Police Lieutenant Hussein Sami said the explosion occurred as hundreds of civilians had flocked to the station to fill in applications to join the police force. Others confirmed his account.

"I went to the police station asking for work. I was at the entrance; I was lifted off the ground and thrown two meters [yards] away....It was a big explosion," said Dawd Mohammed Ali, 22.

He said he remained conscious and was treated by an American soldier on the spot for light wounds to his leg and the arm before being taken to hospital.

Salam Malek, a 25-year-old unemployed man, was closer to the blast and suffered wounds to his back, arms and leg. He said he lost consciousness after the explosion and was suffering hearing trouble six hours later.

A woman clad in a black veil was crying as she walked through a hospital corridor, while a body covered with a blanket lay at the entrance.

Lieutenant Colonel Salam Trad said many of the wounded were evacuated to hospitals in Baghdad, and some airlifted to a hospital for Polish troops stationed near here, because Iskandariya's hospital lacked the capacity.

Trad, commander of the emergency police in Hilla province, which covers Iskandariya, said the death toll was expected to rise because there were "many in serious or critical condition."

As in past such attacks, there was no claim of responsibility.

But the al-Qaeda network was a prime suspect in twin bombings in the northern city of Arbil earlier this month that killed at least 105 people, and an attack on the coalition headquarters in Baghdad that killed 24.

A car bomb exploded August 29 outside a mosque in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, killing more than 85 people, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, reports the AP.

U.S. officials say techniques used in recent attacks point to an increasing al-Qaeda involvement, particularly the use of suicide bombers.

Tuesday’s attack was at least the eighth vehicle bombing in Iraq this year and followed warnings from occupation officials that Iraqi insurgents would step up attacks against Iraqis who work with the U.S.-led coalition, especially in the run-up to the planned June 30 transfer of sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi government, reports the AP.

Iraqi police officials say 300 policemen have been killed as a result of the insurgency. The force was set up by the U.S.-led authorities in Iraq, who provided training, equipment and have often led joint patrols, reports Reuters news agency.

Iskandariya hospital chief Razzak Jabar Janabi said his facility had received 50 dead and 29 wounded, while others had been transferred in critical condition to hospital in Hilla, capital of the province of the same name.

"Thirty dead have been brought here, I believe that number is rising. I believe it's at 49."

"This figure might increase," said Janabi. "There were some body parts that haven't been identified yet. Some more bodies may be trapped under the rubble."

"Families have already reclaimed 30 bodies and there are still 20 in the morgue," he said.

Dr. Wissam Abbas said an 11-year-old boy was among the dead and a 15-year old boy among the injured. All the other victims were adult men.

"All the dead are civilians. Three policemen are among the wounded, there were no women among the victims," he said.

Mohammed al-Tai, director of Hilla hospital, spoke of another five dead, while his and a third hospital received 38 injured.

The attack coincided with a festival drawing tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims to the holy city of Najaf, just a day after U.S. officials warned of what they described as a plot to spark a Sunni-Shiite civil war in Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, said a 17-page memo gave "some credence" to U.S. pre-war charges of links between Osama bin Laden's terror group and Saddam's regime.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian suspected of ties to al-Qaeda, is suspected of being the author of the memo, which U.S. officials in Baghdad say details a plot that could "tear the country apart".

Powell said of the letter: "It certainly lends, I think, some credence to what we said at the U.N. last year, that [Zarqawi] was active in Iraq in doing things that should have been known to the Iraqis" before the invasion.

"With respect to the letter itself, it's very revealing. They describe the weaknesses they have in their efforts to undercut the coalition's effort," said Powell.

The claims were made as defense officials in Washington announced the arrest of Muhsin Khadr, a former Baath party chairman. Number 48 in the U.S. military's Iraqi most-wanted "deck of cards" list, he was turned over to U.S. forces at the weekend.