IRAQ: Two suicide bombers struck at Baghdad's police academy yesterday, killing at least 36 officers and cadets and wounding more than 50, officials said.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the bloodiest attack in three weeks, saying in an internet statement that "two brothers" had carried out the attack on a police force it said was persecuting the Sunni Arab minority.
The Shia-led government, facing an election next week amid daily violence, denies such accusations.
One American contractor was wounded but no US troops were hurt, said the US military, which put the casualty toll at 27 dead and 50 wounded. The military initially blamed the attack on two female bombers, but later said they were male.
An interior ministry official said 36 were killed and 72 injured, while one police officer said 37 died and 76 were hurt.
The first explosion occurred at 12.45pm as police cadets were going to lunch after shooting practice, said Nizal Mahmoud Khalaf, a police trainee who survived the blasts.
The second bomber struck as the cadets ran for shelter, he told reporters outside a hospital where the wounded were treated.
The US military, which initially said the bombers walked into a classroom and blew themselves up, later said one of the bombers struck near a group of students outside a classroom.
Thinking the explosion was an attack from outside, Iraqi police officers and students ran for shelter to a bunker - where the second bomber detonated his vest strapped with explosives, the military said.