Blasts Kill Dozens of Iraqi Police Recruits

Sunday's bombing was the bloodiest assault on a police recruitment center since January, when a suicide bomber killed 70 police recruits in the western city of Ramadi. Sunni Arab insurgents frequently target police, to deter recruitment and also because national police are widely believed to be infiltrated by Shiite militias keen on protecting the interests of their sect.

Less than a half-hour after the suicide attacks, two bombs targeting a national police patrol exploded on a main artery in central Baghdad, killing three policemen and wounding five others. The blasts also killed two civilians and wounded seven, said Col. Kareem Hamza, an Interior Ministry official. On Saturday, policemen were attacked in the cities of Baqubah and Kirkuk.

Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said the recruits killed or injured Sunday would "receive all the salaries and rights of any other employee at the Ministry of Interior."

In other violence, the U.S. military announced the combat-related deaths of three U.S. soldiers in Anbar province, bringing to 27 the number of American troops killed this month.

[The Associated Press reported on Monday that a bomb had exploded in a minibus in eastern Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding 20, police said.

The bombing occurred shortly after midday in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, police Lt. Ali Muhsin said.]

Also on Monday, A car bomb exploded near the Iranian Embassy a few hundred meters away from the entrance to the Green Zone and the Ministry of Defense, killing one civilian and injuring three others, said Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman

Elsewhere, at least 50 bodies were found behind a regional electrical company in Baqubah and 25 others in Baghdad, the Associated Press reported.

A car bomb killed one civilian and wounded four in the central Karrada district of the capital, and a roadside bomb wounded four in the Radwaniyah district of southwestern Baghdad, Khalaf said.

At Yarmouk Hospital, Mutashir, the wounded recruit, said three of his relatives, also police recruits, had been killed in the bombing. One was burned so badly that his corpse could be identified only by a scar on his leg.

Two of his cousins were seriously wounded, including Ali Jumat, 23, who was lying in a bed. His body was peppered with pink shrapnel splotches. His hair was singed brown from the explosion's flames. His eyes were deep red.

When asked why he wanted to become a policeman, Jumat appeared to be in even more pain. "I am the only supporter of my family," he replied, before closing his eyes.

Special correspondent Saad al-Izzi and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.