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BAGHDAD, Nov 10: Suicide bombers struck a restaurant and an army recruiting station in Iraq on Thursday, killing 37 people. The bloodiest attack was claimed by the Al Qaeda group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
The Internet claim came shortly after the group also said it was behind the triple suicide attacks on hotels in Amman.
In Baghdad, 31 people were killed and 28 wounded when a bomber wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up at a restaurant popular with police.
“The operation is part of the revenge raid for the Sunnis in Al Qaim,” Al Qaeda said.
Iraqi and US troops on Saturday launched a military sweep to restore Iraqi control and destroy Al Qaeda operatives in the Al Qaim region, along the Syrian border.
Iraqi Defence Minister Saadun al Dulaimi said on Thursday 200 guerillas had been killed in that operation.
Six Iraqis died and 13 were wounded when another suicide driver detonated a car bomb outside an army recruitment centre in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s home town in the north of the country.
Two more civilians were killed an hour later in the same spot when another bomb exploded.
27 BODIES FOUND: The bodies of 27 people who had been shot in the head were found in open countryside east of Baghdad on Thursday.
The grisly discovery was made in the region of Jassan, near the town of Kut, according to Col Badr al Basri, who said the victims were dressed in civilian clothes and had their hands and feet.
“Most bodies belonged to men aged between 20 and 35 who appeared to have been killed 10 days ago,” the official said.—AFP
