Iraq Watch: May 3, 2006

Suicide Bomber Hits Fallujah Police Recruitment Center

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber blew himself up amidst a crowd of police recruits in the former rebel-bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

The bomber, dressed in civilian attire, detonated his hidden payload at approximately 8:00 a.m. killing at least 15 and wounding 30.

Elsewhere, authorities discovered the executed bodies of 34 people in and around the capital city of Baghdad. 14 of the corpses, all bearing signs of torture, were found in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab.

Also in Baghdad, insurgents assassinated Jawad Kadom, a high-ranking electricity ministry official while four college students were slain by gunmen in the restive Dora neighborhood.

Meanwhile, a U.S. civilian was reported killed and two were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

Iraq's parliament, in a largely procedural event, met Wednesday inside the capitals heavily fortified Green Zone. 154 of the 275 members of parliament attended Wednesday morning's session.

Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki, from the Shiite Dawa Party, has until May 22 to form a new cabinet, which will then be presented to parliament to be voted upon.

If al-Maliki is unable to produce an approved cabinet within the allotted time another prime minister must be selected and the painstaking process will start anew.