Bomber kills 40 at Baghdad college

Baghdad: A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 40 people in a Baghdad college yesterday, a day after Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki expressed optimism about a security crackdown in the capital.

Guards stopped the bomber at the reception of the Baghdad Economy and Administration College but the man managed to blow himself up, police said.

Police put the death toll at 40, with 35 people wounded. Most of the victims were students, witnesses said.

"May God curse the terrorists," shouted some students after the attack. Others sat on the ground outside weeping.

A string of car bombings and rocket salvos also hit Baghdad yesterday as insurgents defied efforts by US and Iraqi security forces to stabilise the capital.

A professor said the college attack happened as students were leaving morning classes and arriving for afternoon lessons. Others doing exams were wounded by flying glass that tore through their classroom, the professor said.

"There were bodies everywhere," said the professor, who declined to be identified. The blast left large pools of blood in the college's reception area. Textbooks and pens lay scattered on the floor.

The college is part of nearby Mustansiriya University, which was hit by twin bomb attacks last month that killed 70 people, mainly students.

Other strikes

Among the attacks yesterday, rockets and mortar bombs crashed into a market in a Shiite area in southern Baghdad and there were conflicting reports about casualties, police said.

A car bomb also killed one person and wounded four in central Baghdad, not far from the Iranian embassy, police said.