Police Recruits Targeted In Iraq

Iraqis gather at the scene of a massive suicide car bombing outside a police headquarters in central Baghdad that killed at least 47 people and wounded 114. (Faleh Kheiber -- Reuters)

"They were after those poor young men who wanted to join the Iraqi police," Hussein said. "I can't understand why Iraqis kill other Iraqis."

The police building is just off Haifa Street, where numerous clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents have occurred in the past few weeks.

"We knew that something like this would happen, because a large group of young men gather here every day," said Abu Ali, the owner of a small shop near the scene.

Although Zarqawi's group asserted responsibility, many bystanders and relatives at the scene were quick to assign blame, both direct and indirect, to the United States. Some blamed the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq for provoking attacks on Iraqis working with the interim government.

More than 150 Iraqis have been killed in insurgent attacks and clashes with U.S. forces since Sunday. In the western city of Ramadi, at least eight civilians were killed and 18 were wounded on Tuesday in clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents, according to medical officials quoted by the Associated Press.

The U.S. military announced that a U.S. soldier was killed and five were wounded when their patrol was attacked with small arms fire in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday. Separately, the military said that two soldiers were killed and three were wounded Monday in an attack involving a roadside bomb and small arms fire.

In other developments Tuesday, officials reported an attack on oil pipelines crossing the Tigris River in northern Iraq. The sabotage knocked out one of Iraq's largest power plants, shutting off electricity to much of Baghdad for part of the day.

Firefighters struggled to put out the blaze after the attack 155 miles north of Baghdad, near Baiji, news services said. U.S. military officials surveying the blast estimated it could take as long as three days to put out the fire.

Special correspondents Naseer Nouri and Bassam Sebti contributed to this report.