The Baghdad police recruitment centre bombing was a suspected

suicide bombing A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

in the city of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, Iraq, that killed 28 people on 8 March 2009. The attack occurred at 10 am local time ( UTC+3) in the centre of a crowd outside the police recruitment centre building. Most of the dead were police recruits; others were civilians and serving officers. There were a further 57 injuries. The death toll is the highest reported incident in Iraq for nearly one month.

Insurgents An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irreg ...

often choose police recruitment centres to attack and this centre, located on Palestine Street, was previously attacked. Concrete blocks have been constructed and checkpoints have been set up nearby to prevent such an attack. According to a nearby police lieutenant there was a demonstration of about 100 oil employees at one intersection between the police recruitment building and the oil ministry. The bomb went off one hour after the demonstration had started, and according to some sources, the bomber had mingled with the crowd. The police believe that the bomb was remotely detonated, despite speculation regarding a bomber committing suicide. There were reports of a second bomb. Some reports suggest a motorcycle crashed into the crowd and the rider detonated explosives in a worn belt. Other reports claim that the explosives were worn in a vest. An eye-witness said that the police started discharging their firearms after the explosion, leading to the widespread belief that the explosions were merely cover for

targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...

s within the crowd. Pick-up trucks were used to transport the casualties to hospital afterwards.

References

2009 murders in Iraq 21st-century mass murder in Iraq Suicide bombings in Baghdad Mass murder in 2009 Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2009 Terrorist incidents in Baghdad 2000s in Baghdad March 2009 events in Iraq Attacks on buildings and structures in Iraq Building bombings in Iraq {{Iraq-stub

See also

References