KIRKUK, Iraq – A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb Saturday outside an Iraqi police academy as hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing 20 people and wounding 36 others in the latest attack designed to thwart U.S-backed efforts to build a strong Iraqi security force ahead of January elections.
U.S and Iraqi forces, meanwhile, launched an operation in another northern town, Tal Afar, to flush out a militant cell allegedly smuggling men and arms in from Syria, sparking a fierce gunbattle that left at least eight people dead and more than 50 injured.
South of Baghdad, attackers fired mortar rounds at an Iraqi police patrol, killing three officers, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry. The attack occurred between the towns of Mahmoudiya and Latifiyah 25 miles from the capital.
The car bomb in Kirkuk littered the street with bloodied bodies, gutted cars, shards of glass and twisted metal. The police academy’s steps were covered in blood.
“I saw one of my friends killed before my eyes. I couldn’t do anything to help him,” said Bassem Ali, a student at the academy who was injured in the blast.
Kirkuk police put the toll at 20 dead and 36 wounded.
“This is a terrorist act against members of Iraqi police who were going home,” said Kirkuk police Col. Sarhat Qadir.
Insurgents view police as collaborators with U.S.-led forces and are bent on disrupting American efforts to build a strong Iraqi security force ahead of January elections.
Militants have blown up police stations all over the country, gunned down officers in drive-by shootings and battered police recruitment centers with mortar barrages and rocket-propelled grenades – leaving policemen increasingly terrified and deterring would-be recruits.
From April 2003 to May 2004 alone, 710 Iraqi police were killed out of a total force of 130,000, authorities said.
In Tal Afar, a U.S. OH-58D Kiowa helicopter was hit by enemy fire and forced to make an emergency landing, said U.S. Army Capt. Angela Bowman.
A U.S. Stryker Brigade vehicle securing the helicopter’s site was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades, the military said.
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