Dozens Killed in a Wave of Bombings Across Iraq

(Aug. 25) -- A series of apparently coordinated attacks from the north to the south of Iraq killed at least 56 people today in assaults aimed at Iraqi security forces, just a day after the U.S. announced that its combat troops had fallen below 50,000.

Although no group claimed responsibility, the insurgent bombers and gunmen seemed to be making a clear statement that they were ready and able to deal with the U.S.-trained police and military forces. The attacks were also seen as a reflection of the country's political instability more than five months after an election failed to produce a clear winner or a new government, adding to the Iraqi people's resentment.

The assaults began in the Qahira area of Baghdad when a pickup truck full of explosives was detonated behind a police station. The building collapsed and nearby homes were shattered, according to media reports, killing 15 people, including six policemen, and wounding 58.

Three other explosions in the capital killed at least five other people.

But the deadliest attack took place in the southern city of Kut, about 100 miles from Baghdad, where a suicide bomber exploded his car close to a police station. Police and hospital officials told The Associated Press that 19 people were killed, with 15 of them policemen.

An account by Reuters quoted a police official, Lieut. Col. Aziz al-Amarah, as saying the blast killed 26 policemen and wounded 87.

"I rushed to the scene to help evacuate the people and saw body parts and hands scattered on the ground and dead bodies of policemen," a government employee, Yahya al-Shimari, told the AP. "I also saw a traffic policeman lying dead on the ground. There were about 15 cars that were burnt."

In Baghdad, a 30-year-old engineer, Khalil Ahmed, told The New York Times, "From the day of the fall of Saddam until now, this is what we have -- explosions, killing and looting. This is our destiny. It's already written for us."

A total of 12 towns and cities were hit by the series of attacks over a two-hour period today, the Times reported, from Mosul in the north to Basra in the south.

Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, told the AP that the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces, scheduled to be completed next week, together with the country's uncertain political situation had given insurgents an ideal situation for launching attacks. He insisted, however, that the country's security was "under control."

But a judge and former legislator, Wael Abdel-Latif, told the Times, "The message the insurgents want to deliver to the Iraqi people and the politicians is that we exist and we choose the time and the place.

"They are carrying out such attacks when the Americans are here, so just imagine what they can do after the Americans leave."

Although violence has dropped since its peak in 2007, daily attacks in the first three weeks of August on Iraqi forces and traffic police killed more than 85 people in Baghdad and Anbar province.

More than 4,400 U.S. soldiers and at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.