Iraq Watch: July 2, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the capital city of Baghdad a suicide bomber strapped with explosives blew himself up near an Iraqi police recruiting station in the western part of the city killing at least 16 people, including 11 police recruits, and injuring another 22.

Al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, clamed responsibility for the attack in an internet statement.

In Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, a suicide bomeber detonated himself near an Iraqi police checkpoint killing at least six Iraqi policemen. A second suicide bomber attacked emergency personal arriving at the scene of the first bombing injuring 26 people.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack northwest of Baghdad.

In Mosul, insurgents killed police Lt. Col. Anwar Sheik Kabeer Sorchyee as he drove to work.

Also in Mosul, according to AFP, at least 12 exectued bodies have been turned into local hospitald in the northern city within the last day.

Elsewhere, in Mahmoudiya - 12 miles south of the capital - two people were killed and nine injured when a bomb exploded near a mosque. The bombing occured just minutes after mourners of Sheik Kamaleddin al-Ghuraifi, who was killed by gunmen on Friday, passed by on their way to the Shiite holy city of Najaf.