Baghdad: Five suicide bombers armed with rifles tried to storm an army base in Baghdad on Sunday, killing 12 people and wounding 29 less than a week after Washington declared US combat operations in Iraq over.
Two attackers blew themselves up at the back gate of the compound after being shot, while a third detonated a minibus packed with explosives at the entrance. The remaining two fought an hour-long gunbattle with troops before being killed, said Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qasim Al Mousavi.
The assault took place in broad daylight, just over two weeks after dozens of Iraqi army recruits and soldiers were killed by another suicide bomber at the same base and a few days after the August 31 end to US. combat operations in Iraq.
Top targets
Insurgents are targeting Iraqi police and troops as the US military gradually pulls out more than seven years after invading, while the failure of Iraq's leaders six months after an election to agree a new government has also stoked tensions.
"It was an attempt to break into the Rusafa military command. It was similar to the attack on the central bank but security forces foiled the assault and killed all attackers," Al Mousavi said, referring to a June 13 siege by up to seven suicide bombers of the Central Bank of Iraq.
All five of the attackers involved in the assault were wearing suicide vests and arrived at the back gate of the military base in a minibus. Two leapt out and charged the gate, firing weapons at the soldiers manning it to clear a path for the minibus.
When they were shot they detonated their vests. Two other attackers then also jumped out, weapons firing, while the driver tried to drive into the gate. He was shot and blew the bus up.
The two remaining attackers fled into a building that was under construction and held Iraqi security forces at bay for at least an hour before being killed.
Four soldiers dead
Police, Interior Ministry sources and Al Mousavi all put the death toll at 12. Al Mousavi said four of the dead were soldiers. He added that 29 people were wounded.
"There are bodies and body parts but we don't know if they belong to attackers or civilians," Al Mousavi said.
Residents in the neighbourhood said the gunfire continued for over an hour. Witnesses said they saw gunmen in one mainly Sunni district nearby. The area became an Al Qaida stronghold at the height of the sectarian warfare unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion, and remained dangerous until mid-2009.
The base was a defence ministry headquarters under Saddam Hussain and now serves as an army recruitment centre as well as a military command.
At least 57 recruits and soldiers were killed and 123 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up there on August 17.
