Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 11 February 2004 — A truck packed with an estimated 225 kilograms (500 pounds) of explosives blew up yesterday morning at a police station in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, as dozens of would-be recruits lined up to apply for jobs, and a hospital official said at least 55 people were killed and 67 others wounded.

It was at least the eighth vehicle bombing in Iraq this year and followed warnings from occupation officials that insurgents would step up attacks against Iraqis who work with the US-led coalition, especially ahead of the planned June 30 transfer of sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi government.

US officials in Baghdad reported 35 dead and 75 wounded but said those figures could be low since Iraqi authorities were handling the investigation. The local Iraqi police commander, Lt. Col. Abdul Rahim Saleh, said the attack was a suicide operation, carried out by a driver who detonated a red pickup as it passed the station.

“We found its engine. It was a suicide operation and a cowardly act,” Saleh said.

In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations chief, said it was too early to say who was responsible and that it was unclear whether the blast was triggered by a suicide driver. But he said the attack “does show many” of Al-Qaeda’s “fingerprints,” including the size of the bomb — which he estimated at 225 kilograms (500 pounds) — and the large number of civilian casualties.

Iraqi police Lt. Gen. Ahmed Kadhum Ibrahim said in Baghdad that the engine number of the vehicle used in the attack indicated it used to belong to a former Iraqi intelligence officer in Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Saleh said most of the victims were Iraqi civilians. No US or other coalition forces were hurt, added Lt. Col. Dan Williams.

Separately, four police officers were killed yesterday by an explosion in Baghdad, and two others in separate attacks in the northern city of Mosul, police said.

Four policemen died when an explosive device went off near their car as they drove through Zayyuna, a district in eastern Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim, told reporters.

In Mosul, 340 kilometers (229 miles) north of Baghdad, two policemen were killed and two others wounded in two drive-by shootings, police officials said.

Mosul police spokesman Lt. Col. Abdel Azel Khazem said a policeman was killed and two others wounded when assailants in two cars opened fire on their pick-up truck in the Hay Saoma district.

The explosion in the predominantly Shiite town of Iskandariya about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Baghdad reduced parts of the station to rubble. The nearby street was littered with shattered vehicles, pieces of glass, bricks, mangled steel and scraps of clothing. Sand from bags reinforcing protective barricades was spread over the street.

On Monday, US officials said a letter seized last month from an Al-Qaeda courier asked the terrorist leadership to help foment civil war between Sunnis and Shiites to undermine the coalition and the future Iraqi leadership.

The purported author of the letter was Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, a Palestinian-Jordanian suspected of Al-Qaeda links. The author boasted of having organized 25 suicide attacks in Iraq.

US paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division sealed off the area around the station and refused to allow journalists near the site.

Hospital director Razaq Jabbar said his facility had received 50 dead and 50 injured — all believed to be Iraqis. He said he had heard that three others died at another hospital. “This figure might increase,” he said. “There were some body parts that haven’t been identified yet. Some more bodies may be trapped under the rubble.”

Policeman Wissam Abdul-Karim said he was standing in front of the nearby courthouse when “I heard a very strong explosion” and was thrown to the ground by the blast.

Hussein Mohammed, 18, said he was standing in the public market when he heard a tremendous explosion about 9:15 a.m. Another witness, who refused to give his name, said body parts littered the street.

Hours later, police opened fire in the air to disperse dozens of angry residents who stormed the wrecked police station after hearing rumors that the blast was caused by an American rocket.

“No, no to America! The police are traitors; not Sunnis, not Shiites! This crime was by the Americans!” the crowd shouted before dispersing.

Meanwhile, the Baghdad Convention Center, which houses the US military press center and other coalition facilities, was evacuated yesterday after bomb-sniffing dogs detected something suspicious, Williams said. The center later reopened.

On Monday, a suicide bomber walked up to the house of brothers Majid and Amer Ali Suleiman in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, and detonated explosives strapped to his body, witnesses said.

Three guards were seriously injured but the brothers — who are among the city’s most prominent tribal leaders working with coalition forces — were unhurt. The bomber had approached the house earlier when the brothers were receiving callers and was told to leave, the witnesses said.

Also Monday, defense officials in Washington said American forces in Iraq have detained one of the remaining most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s government. Muhsin Khadr Al-Khafaji, No. 48 on the 55 most-wanted list, was turned over last weekend to US troops in the Baghdad area, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

— Additional input from agencies