Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens in Attack on Iraqi Army Recruits

Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens in Attack on Iraqi Army Recruits
By STEPHEN FARRELL

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber blew himself up early on Tuesday at an army recruiting office here, killing dozens in the first major bombing of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan — a period made more fraught than in previous years by the looming deadline for American forces to replace their combat mission here with a training role.

Iraqi soldiers at the scene of the attack said only that dozens of civilians and security force personnel were caught in the explosion near the Bab al-Muadham, on the east side of the Tigris River near the former headquarters of the ministry of defense. Soldiers said they had pulled 40 bodies from the debris, and an official from the ministry of interior later said that the toll so far was 45 dead and 129 wounded.

Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, forgoing water, food and cigarettes, has in recent years brought an escalation of insurgent attacks in Iraq. But this year has particular significance as Ramadan coincides with the weeks leading up to the American military’s Aug. 31 deadline to reduce its troop numbers in Iraq to 50,000, shifting from combat operations to a mission designed principally to train and assist Iraqi security forces.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

What a mess