Suicide bombing kills 23 Iraqi recruits ready to fight Al Qaeda

The troops were to be deployed in Anbar province where the Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda has claimed control of areas in Ramadi and Fallujah.

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Alistair Lyon

BAGHDAD // A suicide bomber killed 23 Iraqi army recruits and wounded 36 in Baghdad on Thursday, officials said, in an attack on men volunteering to join the government’s struggle to crush Al Qaeda in Anbar province.

The bomber had blown himself up among the recruits at the small Muthanna airfield, according to Brig Gen Saad Maan.

He put the death toll at 22 but health ministry officials said morgue records showed 23 had been killed.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred a day after Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said he would eradicate the “evil” of Al Qaeda and its allies.

Fighters from, Isil, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, last week seized control of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi, capital of Iraq’s western Anbar province.

The group has links to Al Qaeda and is also active in Syria.

Iraq’s Shiite-led government has asked for volunteers to join the military effort against a reinvigorated Al Qaeda.

The group has regained strength in Sunni-dominated areas such as Anbar by exploiting widespread Sunni resentment over Mr Al Maliki’s policies.

Bloodshed in Iraq has returned to its highest level in five years, with the United Nations reporting 8,868 people killed last year — a surge of violence partly fuelled by the war in Syria.

Residents in Fallujah reported a calmer day after some overnight mortar fire. Militants were keeping a low profile. Troops on the outskirts made no attempt to enter the city, many of whose 300,000 residents fled after clashes last week.

But it is not clear whether a deal reached between Mr Al Maliki’s government and Sunni tribal leaders, under which the militants would withdraw and the army would stay outside Fallujah, can end the struggle for the city 70 kilometres west of Baghdad.

“We don’t want this city to suffer and we will not use force, as long as the tribes announce their readiness to confront Al Qaeda and expel it,” Mr Al Maliki said on Wednesday.

Thousands of civilians streamed out of Fallujah after Isil and allied Sunni tribesmen overran police stations 10 days ago, but a few have returned in hopes that negotiations will avert a full-scale army assault on a city that endured two devastating US offensives against Sunni insurgents there in 2004.

According to the United Nations, more than 11,000 families have fled their homes in Anbar province. UN agencies delivered the first relief supplies to the displaced people on Wednesday.

“It is essential to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the people in Anbar province, particularly those in Fallujah and surrounding areas,” Nikolay Mladenov, the UN envoy to Iraq, said on Thursday.

Human Rights Watch said combatants on both sides were causing civilian casualties in Anbar, with Iraqi government forces apparently using indiscriminate mortar fire, while Al Qaeda and its local allies were attacking from populated areas.

“A government blockade of Fallujah and Ramadi has resulted in limited access to food, water and fuel for the population,” the group said.

More shops and bakeries were open in Fallujah than the previous day. The price of a jerry can of kerosene had fallen to 20,000 dinars (Dh62) from as much as 40,000 on Wednesday.

Small groups of gunmen lurked in some places, but in general their presence was less visible than before, residents said. Burnt-out cars wrecked in fighting still littered the streets, but some traffic police reappeared at intersections.

Nevertheless, civilians remained wary, with some believing that an army assault was still imminent.

“It is a game,” said one man. “Why is the army on the outskirts of the city and why is nobody targeting them? I think they are preparing to raid the city.”

Reuters