Bombers kill 43 at Baghdad police academy

updated 3:37 a.m. ET Dec. 8, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two suicide bombers detonated explosives inside Baghdad’s main police academy Tuesday, killing at least 43 people and wounding more than 70, police said. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, the capital’s deadliest in months.

The bombing came as Al-Jazeera broadcast a video from insurgents claiming to have kidnapped a U.S. security consultant — the seventh Westerner abducted in Iraq since Nov. 26 — and the U.S. military reported another American soldier killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.

The assault on the police academy was carefully planned to maximize casualties, all of whom were police officers or cadets.

The first bomber struck near a group of students outside a classroom, a U.S. military statement said.

Thinking they were under mortar fire, survivors rushed to a bunker “where the second bomber detonated his vest,” the statement added. One of the wounded was an American contractor.

‘Two blessed brothers’
A statement on an Islamist Web site in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq said “two blessed brothers” staged the attack on the academy “which continues to produce the dogs that shed the blood and violate the honor of Sunni Muslims.”

The claim’s authenticity could not be independently verified, but al-Qaida in Iraq’s leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has often denounced Shiites because of religious differences and their leading role in the U.S.-backed government.

Iraqi police also said the attackers may have been policemen or students, fresh evidence that insurgents have infiltrated the country’s security forces. President Bush has linked an eventual U.S. troop withdrawal to the ability of Iraq’s army and police to combat the insurgents.

The attack was the deadliest against security Iraqi forces since Feb. 28, when a suicide car bomber struck a crowd of mostly Shiite police and army recruits in Hillah, killing 125. In September, at least 88 people were killed in a suicide car bombing in a heavily Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

More violence feared
U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned of an increase in insurgent attacks ahead of the Dec. 15 elections. Residents of Ramadi reported seeing fliers Tuesday in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq warning people not to vote and threatening to bomb polling stations.

First reports said two women had attacked the police academy, but the report was later retracted. Officials said the report was based on the fact that two women had been allowed inside the compound without a body search because no female officers were available to perform it.

“We were sitting in the yard when we heard an explosion,” said police Maj. Wisam al-Heyali. “Seconds later, we were hit by another explosion as we were running. I saw some of my colleagues falling down and I felt my hand hit, but I kept on running.”

Police Capt. Jalil Abdul-Qadir said 43 people were killed, including seven policewomen, and at least 73 were wounded. U.S. forces placed the death toll at least 27.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. military said a soldier assigned to Task Force Baghdad was killed when a patrol hit a roadside bomb Sunday. At least 2,129 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count.

Video details
The video broadcast on Al-Jazeera showed a blond, Western-looking man sitting with his hands tied behind his back. The video also bore the logo of the Islamic Army in Iraq, an insurgent group, and showed a U.S. passport and an Arabic identification card with the name Ronald Schulz. The spelling of the name was uncertain because it was written in Arabic.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Liz Colton said U.S. authorities were aware of the Al-Jazeera report and were investigating.

The authenticity of the video could not be immediately confirmed.

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