57 candidates and Iraqi soldiers were killed and 123 injured after a suicide bomber at army recruitment center in Baghdad

Baghdad At least 57 candidates and Iraqi soldiers were killed and 123 injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up at army recruitment center in Baghdad, Tuesday, two weeks before U.S. combat duty in Iraq ended.The blast, which ravage the ranks recruits, is the one that claimed the most victims of this year and it happens when the unexpected guerrillas also launched a murder of the judges in the Iraqi capital and the restive provinces in northern Iraq.Bloodshed adds to the tension that has got worse after the general elections which did not complete more than five months ago. General elections were not yet produced a new government.

Guerrillas have been targeting Iraqi army and police as they prepared to assume full security responsibilities on 1 September, when the United States end the combat mission 7.5 years.The number of U.S. troops will be reduced to be 50 000 personnel to the mission of training before a full withdrawal is planned for next year.

“We’re waiting in line. Also, there officers and soldiers. Suddenly there was an explosion. Thanksgiving is just my hand injury,” said Aziz Saleh, one of which will be recruited, told Reuters Television, while doctors at al-Karkh hospital care victim injury.As many as 57 people were killed and 123 injured in an attack on an Army base in the field Maidan, the central part of Baghdad, according to information from the media office of the Ministry of Health.

The White House said U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the attack, but U.S. withdrawal timetable has not changed.”Our combat mission ended at the end of the month, but we’re still going to put forces in there that will help support the (Iraqi forces) as needed,” said spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One.(AFP)

Iraqi gunmen wearing military uniforms killed at least 25 people, including women and children

Iraqi gunmen wearing military uniforms killed at least 25 people, including women and children, connected to Sunni groups who fought against al-Qaeda. The gunman stormed three houses in a village in Arab Jabour, a Sunni enclave of Southern Bagdad, late last night. The victims were handcuffed and shot in the head.

At least seven people were left alive after the slaughter, with their hands tied behind their backs, according to Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi. An official at Iraq’s Interior Ministry has confirmed that 20 men and five women and were killed by gunmen in military uniform, riding in pickup trucks.Some victims were members of the Iraqi security forces, while others were connected to the Sons of Iraq group, or Sahwa – former Sunni militants who joined forces with the government and US troops to fight al-Qaeda.

The move, known locally as the Awakening, is credited with helping turn the tide of the Iraq war by quelling insurgency in the country. Last year the US handed over control of the Awakening Councils to the Iraq government, which pays them a salary of around $300. Attacks have fallen significantly the last two years but security officials have warned that tensions resulting from the March 7 parliamentary elections could fuel a fresh wave of violence. Iraq authorities have arrested 25 people in connection with yesterday’s attack and sealed off the area to conduct a search for other suspects.

Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops killed at least five people on Friday in a raid on suspected members of what Washington calls an Iranian-backed terrorist group

BASRA, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops killed at least five people on Friday in a raid on suspected members of what Washington calls an Iranian-backed terrorist group, the U.S. military said. While overall violence in Iraq has fallen over the last two years, attacks and fighting remain common as Iraq gears up for a March 7 election and U.S. troops prepare to stop combat operations ahead of a withdrawal by the end of 2011.

The firefight with suspected members of Kata’ib Hizballah, a group that the U.S. State Department says has ties to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, occurred 265 km (165 miles) southeast of Baghdad in a village near the Iranian border. Twelve people were arrested.”The joint security team was fired upon by individuals dispersed in multiple residential buildings … members of the security team returned fire, killing individuals assessed to be enemy combatants,” the U.S. military said in a statement.”While the number of casualties has not yet been confirmed, initial reports indicate five individuals were killed,” it said without specifying who was killed in the raid.

Maitham Laftah, a member of the provincial council of Maysan province, said 10 people were killed, including two women, and five people wounded in the village 75 km (46 miles) north of the city of Amara. Eleven people were arrested, he said.Hospital sources in Amara put the death toll at eight killed, including a woman, and three wounded.A Reuters photographer who arrived after the firefight saw bloodstains on the ground and bullet holes in the walls.The U.S. military said that Iraqi and U.S. intelligence sources have spotted a recent increase in weapons smuggling by Iranian-backed militia like Kata’ib Hizballah. It gave no further information.(Reuters)