/ 12 October 2005

Suicide bomber kills 30 in Iraq

Thirty people were killed on Wednesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a large crowd of people outside an army recruitment centre in the north-western Iraqi town of Tal Afar, police said.

The attack, which also left 35 people wounded, came just a day after another attack in the town killed 30 people at a crowded market.

“About 500 people were waiting outside the centre when the suicide bomber blew up his explosives belt,” Tal Afar police chief General Najim Abdallah said. “They were all [would-be] army recruits.”

The latest blast came just three days before Iraqis are due to vote on Saturday on a new Constitution that aims to turn another page in the country’s political transition following the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi political leaders announced earlier on Wednesday a deal aimed at securing the support of the ousted Sunni elite for the Constitution, which they hope will ensure its adoption on Saturday.

United States and Iraqi forces said last month they had wrapped up an operation aimed at clearing out insurgents from Tal Afar, which lies between the main northern city of Mosul and the Syrian border and is regarded by the US military as a staging post for rebels.

But just days later, five people were killed when a woman suicide bomber blew herself up at a police recruitment centre in Tal Afar. — AFP