33 dead in suicide bomb attacks

SUICIDE bombers struck Iraq yesterday, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens more in attacks on an army recruiting centre, a police convoy and civilians.

The attacks pushed the death count to more than 1,500 people killed in violence since 28 April, when prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite- and Kurd-dominated government in a country under attack from an insurgency led by Iraq's Sunni Arab minority. In the deadliest blast yesterday, a man strapped with explosives blew himself up at an Iraqi military recruiting centre at Muthana airfield near central Baghdad, killing 25 and wounding 47.

The Iraqi Islamic Party - the country's largest Sunni political party - denounced the attack, saying "dozens of innocent Iraqis pay the price for these acts that we strongly condemn".

Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber rammed into a police convoy near the northern city of Mosul, killing four policemen and wounding three, police said.

In a third attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in Kirkuk, killing at least four civilians and wounding 15 more. The attack occurred on a highway near a hospital and municipal building.

United States troops carried out a controlled explosion on a parked car rigged with a bomb less than 100 metres away from the first blast in Kirkuk. The second car was intended to cause more casualties as security forces arrived at the scene, police said.

A third car bomb was found near the bus station in Kirkuk while police said they were looking for two other car bombs in the city.