Car Bombs in Iraq Kill 25 as Violence Continues

Two suicide car bombers targeting Iraqi police killed 25 people Wednesday, bringing the death toll to more than 90 this week in surging violence ahead of this month’s planned parliamentary elections.

A driver detonated a car full of explosives outside a police academy in Hillah, miles south of Baghdad, during a graduation ceremony, killing 20 people. A second bomber killed five Iraqi policemen in the restive city of Baqubah, northeast of the capital.

Despite the mounting death toll, Iraq’s interim leader reiterated that the balloting would go ahead as planned.

“We will not allow the terrorists to stop the political process in Iraq,” Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said.

Allawi and U.S. military commanders have contended that elections must be held as scheduled Jan. 30. But interim President Ghazi Ajil Yawer, a Sunni Muslim who holds only ceremonial powers, left open the possibility that the vote could be postponed.

The insurgency is believed to be led by Sunnis and supporters of deposed President Saddam Hussein.

Police Capt. Hady Hatef in Hillah said civilians were among the victims of the blast there. Polish Lt. Col. Artur Domanski, a spokesman for the multinational force in Hillah, said at least 10 policemen were dead.

In Baqubah, a suicide attacker rammed his car into a joint police and national guard checkpoint, killing the five policemen, U.S. spokesman Maj. Neal O’Brien said.

More than 1,300 policemen were killed in the final four months of 2004, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

In a separate attack, gunmen killed police Col. Khalifa Hassan and his driver as they headed to work in Baqubah, said Dr. Ahmed Fouad at Baqubah General Hospital.

In other violence, an explosives-filled car following a convoy of U.S. and Iraqi troops detonated Wednesday in western Baghdad, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding 10, police said. No troops were hurt.

The attack came as a funeral procession was held nearby for the governor of Baghdad, Ali Haidari, who was assassinated Tuesday.

It was unclear whether the bomb targeted the mourners, who included Iraqi officials, or the troop convoy.

The U.S. military also reported Wednesday that an American soldier with Task Force Olympia was killed and two were wounded Tuesday when a patrol was attacked by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades in Tall Afar in northern Iraq.