Suicide Attack Kills 23 Iraqi Army Recruits

Sunni Leaders Call for Arming Citizens for Self-Defense at Government Expense

By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, July 9, 2007; A10

BAGHDAD, July 8 -- A suicide bomber killed 23 Iraqi army recruits and wounded 27 on Sunday when he rammed an explosives-rigged truck into their vehicle near Baghdad, the latest in a spate of attacks that killed more than 200 over the weekend.

The carnage prompted senior Sunni leaders to declare that Iraqis have a right to take up weapons to protect themselves and that the government should supply citizens with arms, money and training for such security measures.

"The citizen has the right to be protected by the government and the security apparatus . . . but when there are failures there is no alternative or there is no escape but for people to defend themselves," Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, said in a statement.

The weekend violence came after a relative lull in major bombings that have plagued Baghdad and other parts of Iraq most of this year, despite a major U.S. and Iraqi security offensive designed to tame the capital and nearby Diyala province. The operations, U.S. commanders acknowledge, have driven extremists to areas with fewer troops.

On Sunday, two car bombs exploded near Baghdad's upscale Karrada neighborhood, considered one of the safer areas of the capital. The first detonated at 10:30 a.m. near a restaurant, killing five people and wounding 10, according to police and the U.S. military. The second occurred 15 minutes later about a mile away, killing three and wounding two.

Another bomb, tucked underneath a car, exploded near Baghdad's Shorja market, killing three and wounding five, according to news reports.

The U.S. military on Sunday announced the deaths of two U.S. soldiers, one killed in a suicide bombing west of Baghdad and the other in fighting Saturday in Salahuddin province.

In a statement Sunday, U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker announced "with a profound sense of sadness and regret" that two Iraqi employees of the U.S. Embassy had been kidnapped in May and killed.

"They represent the silent majority of Iraqis who are working to build a peaceful and prosperous future for their country," Crocker said. "They are the true Iraq."

Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.