In Iraq today, a female suicide bomber walked into a group of police recruits in a provincial town, northeast of Baghdad, and blew herself up, killing at least 14 Iraqis. Also today, U.S. and Iraqi forces fought a daylong battle against insurgents in the heart of Baghdad.
The suicide bomber reportedly carried the explosives under her black abaya as she approached police headquarters in the town of Muqdadiya. In addition to the 14 dead in the blast, more than 20 others were wounded. Most of the victims were men lining up to enlist in the local police.
The recruiting center is part of a larger Iraqi police compound that houses most of the police in the area. Since moving into Muqdadiya in February, American forces have been trying to persuade the local Iraqi police to move out of the compound and into the nearby towns. They warned that such a large concentration of Iraqi security forces would likely become a target.
In Baghdad, U.S. helicopter gunships fired into a mainly Sunni district in support of American and Iraqi forces battling insurgents on the ground. The battle in the Fadhil district and neighboring areas lasted through most of the day. It was some of the heaviest fighting since U.S. and Iraqi forces launched the Baghdad security plan in mid-February.
Iraqi officials say 10 people were killed in the fighting, including an Iraqi soldier. The U.S. military confirmed that 16 U.S. soldiers were wounded, along with two Iraqi soldiers and an Iraqi child. The statement also said that three insurgents were killed. Spokesmen also confirmed that U.S. helicopters were damaged by ground fire during the battle, but they said no crew members were hurt.
In other violence today, mortars struck a neighborhood in east Baghdad, killing one; and another mortar shell was fired into a primary school in central Baghdad, killing one child and wounding another. The interior ministry said police found nine bodies dumped in different parts of the capital. Baghdad's morgue said it received 60 bodies today, 42 of them unidentified.
And the U.S. military reported that four more American soldiers were killed in Iraq on Monday.
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