Six die in Baghdad bombing

BAGHDAD, Wednesday (AFP) A suicide bomber killed six people outside an Iraqi army recruitment center in Baghdad, as insurgents stepped up attacks on targets ranging from would-be recruits to top military officers in their homes.

The latest bloodshed came as politicians wrangled over the make-up of the next government, more than 11 weeks after general elections, a delay that many fear plays into rebel hands.

A suicide bomber blew up a car outside a palace of ousted president Saddam Hussein, now used by the army, killing six people and wounding 40, a defense ministry spokesman said. Most of the victims were soldiers or would-be recruits.

At least seven civilians were wounded when a second car bomber later the same day targeted a US patrol in west Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.

A spokeswoman for the US military confirmed there had been an attack, but declined to give a toll. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaeda-linked group said it had carried out the latest deadly attack in a statement posted on a website that it habitually uses to claim operations in Iraq.

The defense ministry spokesman said at least three more soldiers were killed in another attack against an army patrol in Khalidiyah, west of the capital.

Several men in army uniforms late Monday forced their way into the southern Baghdad home of Major General Adnan Faush Farawni, a senior advisor to the defense ministry. Both he and his son, Captain Alladin Farawni, who worked in intelligence, were shot dead, the interior and defense ministries said.

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Hussein Hato al-Jabeeri, an inspector general for southern provinces, and his driver were shot dead in their car in Amara, some 350 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a police captain said.