Meanwhile, another group said it had seized 10 hostages working for an American-Turkish company, according to a tape broadcast by al-Jazeera, the AP reported. The previously unknown group, calling itself the Salafist Brigades of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, said it would kill the hostages in three days if the company did not leave Iraq, the network reported.
Al-Jazeera said it had received a copy of the tape but did not say how. The group said the company was an American-Turkish firm operating in Iraq but did not identify it by name.
Iraqi soldiers examine the charred remains of a car bomb that exploded outside a National Guard building in Kirkuk, where a crowd of men had gathered to sign up to join. The attack killed 19 people and wounded 63.
(Yahya Ahmed -- AP)
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In addition to the attacks against U.S. forces on the airport road, a roadside bomb that apparently targeted a vehicle carrying U.S. officials or contractors exploded Saturday morning in central Baghdad. The bomb missed the vehicle but hit another car carrying passengers, possibly bodyguards, witnesses said. Wissam Fawsi, 30, an iron metal worker who rushed to the scene, said one of the men was seriously injured and another was severely burned. A third ran off, Fawsi said.
For the second straight day, Iraqi security forces launched raids on Haifa Street, the scene of intense fighting last week between insurgents and U.S. forces. Witnesses said Iraqi National Guardsmen, sometimes backed by U.S. troops, made several arrests in the area Saturday.
Qasim Dawood, state minister for the interim Iraqi government, said Iraqi forces arrested 26 people whom he called "foreign terrorists" during the raids and recovered 60 rockets and large amounts of TNT and ammunition.
The bombing in Kirkuk was similar to an attack on a police headquarters in central Baghdad on Tuesday in which at least 47 people were killed and 114 were injured, many while lining up to apply for jobs. At least 69 police officers, National Guardsmen and potential recruits have been killed and another 177 wounded in the wave of violence that began Tuesday.
Dozens of potential recruits were lined up near the back entrance to the National Guard station Saturday morning. Maj. Gen. Anwar Hamad Ameen said the area was normally blocked off to traffic but had been opened to give drivers access to an adjacent gas station during a fuel crisis.
"We had plans to prevent such an attack, but the suicide bomber took the chance that the back entrance was open for the cars to get fuel, " Ameen said.
Special correspondents Khalid Saffar, Bassam Sebti and Luma Mousawi contributed to this report.
