Bombs kill at least 34 in Iraq
A car bombing and two suicide bombings target were police recruits in Baghdad and U.S. and Iraqi security forces in Mosul.
Reporting from Baghdad — Bombs targeting police recruits in Baghdad and U.S. and Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul killed at least 34 people today, Iraqi police and hospital officials said.
The attacks bore the hallmark of Sunni insurgents loyal to Al Qaeda in Iraq, and they occurred amid a slight increase in war-related deaths reported by Iraqi authorities for the month of November.
The monthly death toll for November, including civilians, police and soldiers, was 339, compared to 278 in October, according to figures from the ministries of health and interior. The number is far lower than for the month of November last year, when the death toll from bombings, shootings and other attacks linked to Iraq's war was 608.
Violence has dropped dramatically across the country in the last year, but bombings remain a daily threat.
Witnesses to the Baghdad attack said it occurred at about 1 p.m. near the rear gate of a police academy in the eastern part of the city as new recruits lined up to enter the building. A car bomb parked nearby blew up, and minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowd.
"We were entering in groups, and my shift was made up of 60 men," said Muhannad Mohammed, 23, one of the recruits, who suffered minor wounds. "As I was going inside, I heard a loud explosion. We all rushed toward the scene. It was a car bomb. I was looking to see if any of my friends were hurt as there were many dead and wounded bodies on the ground. Soon, another bigger explosion took place."
Police and hospital officials said 20 people died, including the bomber. Officials at Kindi Hospital said the bomber's head was brought to the facility and that the attacker appeared to be a teenage boy. U.S. military officials, whose initial casualty reports often are lower than Iraqis', said 15 Iraqis were killed and 35 wounded in two explosions in eastern Baghdad at about 1 p.m. -- apparently the police academy blasts, though this was not spelled out in the early military report. It said the numbers could change as more information became available.
About 225 miles north of the capital, Mosul police said a suicide bomber killed 14 people when he drove his vehicle into a joint U.S.-Iraqi security force patrol.
The U.S. military confirmed that a car bomb had exploded near U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul. It said initial reports indicated two Iraqi police and seven civilians were killed.
Susman is a Times staff writer.
tina.susman@latimes.com
Times special correspondents in Baghdad and Mosul contributed to this report.
