Iraq Watch: July 29, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden bag outside an Iraqi army recruiting center in the town Rabiah, about 230 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least 25 people. Another 35 would-be army volunteers were wounded in the early morning attack near the Syrian border.

The terrorist group, al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement posted on the internet.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the deaths of three American soldiers, two of whom were killed yesterday in a clash with insurgents near the Syrian border.

In the capital of Baghdad late Friday, gunmen assassinated senior Shiite tribal leader Faisal Saad Essa, the AP reports.

Also in Baghdad, three Iraqis were killed and 15 injured when a car bomb exploded next to a group of men drinking alcohol in the Sunni Muslim district of Adhamiyah.