A suicide bomber in a garbage truck packed with explosives killed two policemen near a Baghdad hotel today, and police found 41 corpses, shot or decapitated, in the heartland of Iraq's insurgency.
Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it carried out the Baghdad attack that wounded at least 20 others, part of its relentless campaign to bring down the government and drive out US troops.
The killings of the 41, found in Qaim near the Syrian border and near Latafiya south of Baghdad in what has become known as the "triangle of death", bore the marks of the insurgency, some were shot in the back of the head, others beheaded.
Mainly Sunni insurgents have kept up a campaign of suicide attacks, car bombings and execution-style killings, denting Iraqi and US officials' hopes that landmark January 30 elections would help stabilise the country.
Their ranks have been boosted by frustration at the US occupation, a growing number of shootings of Iraqi civilians and by abuse of prisoners in US-manned jails.
"Our brother Karim ibn al-Karim bin al-Karim, along with a group of mujahideen, targeted ... what should be called the hotel of the Jews because it is their safe-haven and stronghold," al-Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.
"The mujahideen opened fire on the police and guards protecting the Jews and when the entrance was clear, the hero ... blew up the infidels," the group said, adding that the attack was timed to avoid harming any Muslim passers-by.
Huge plumes of thick smoke blackened the Baghdad sky as police, ambulances and fire engines rushed to the hotel that is used by the Iraqi police and their foreign instructors.
Hospital officials said two policemen were killed and dozens of others taken to hospital for treatment.