2010-08-17 21:47

Residents mourn as they wait to claim bodies of bomb attack victims outside a morgue in Baghdad August 17, 2010.[Photo/Agencies]

Iraqi security forces have been trying to boost their numbers as the US military leaves the country after seven years of war. Whether Iraqi forces are ready is being hotly debated by American and Iraqi officials.

Iraq's military commander, Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari, acknowledged last week that his army may not be ready to defend the nation until 2020.

Recognizing the weaknesses, insurgents have intensified attacks on Iraqi army, police and other security forces in recent weeks.

At least two recruits who witnessed Tuesday's attack raised the possibility that a car had also exploded at the scene, which could account for the high death toll. But al-Moussawi blamed the deaths on a single suicide bomber.

"We were sitting there, and somebody began shouting about a parked car," said one of the recruits, Ali Ibrahim, 21, who suffered minor shrapnel wounds.

Officials at four Baghdad hospitals confirmed the death toll of 61 and said 125 others were injured. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Al-Moussawi, the military spokesman, put the casualty count at 39 killed and 57 wounded. Varying casualty counts are common in the confusion after attacks.

This summer in particular has seen a spike in violence in Iraq. Data from the Iraqi defense, interior and ministry officials show that July marked the bloodiest month since May 2008, with more than 500 killed, although tallies compiled by The Associated Press and the US military were lower.

In a similar attack last month, a suicide bomber ripped through a line of anti-al-Qaida Sunni fighters waiting to collect their paychecks near an Iraqi military base, killing 45 people in the mostly Sunni district of Radwaniya southwest of Baghdad.

August, which saw the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has also been deadly. Two bombs that set off a power generator and ignited a fuel tank on August 7. killed 43 people in a downtown market in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.