Suicide bomber kills seven Iraqi policemen

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber killed seven policemen in the latest deadly attack against Iraqi security forces on Sunday, as the embattled government drew up plans to secure war-torn Baghdad.   

The bomber, explosives strapped to his chest and disguised as a policeman, struck during morning parade after infiltrating a police station in Muqdadiyah, around 100 kilometres north of the capital.   

At least seven Iraqi officers were killed and another 30 wounded in a blast that damaged up to 40 percent of the police station and gutted several patrol cars, Lieutenant Ali Ismail said.   

The attack came as Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said a total of 12,000 Iraqi police have been killed battling crime, militias and a vicious insurgency since the March 2003 US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.   

Building effective Iraqi security is now the key challenge facing both the Iraqi government and the US-led coalition, with Washington expected to announce a new strategy shift next month to stem the unrelenting violence.   

Iraqi forces are subject to daily attack from insurgent groups and illegal militias. Elsewhere in Diyala, a soldier was killed and 16 others wounded when two roadside bombs exploded in Khanaqin, town mayor Mollah Hassan said.   

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government has drawn up a plan to transfer security responsibility in Baghdad to Iraqis while positioning US forces on the outskirts of the city to keep out suicide bombers and insurgents.   

Bolani told reporters that the detail of the plan would be announced early next year, but that it would give Iraqi forces "greater room to manoeuvre" and see commanders more responsive to the public.   

Defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the plan hinged on giving ground units greater autonomy to act independently and on permanent troop deployments to protect government institutions and civilians.   

Under the blueprint, unit commanders would not need a green light from the US military or their Iraqi superiors before reacting on the ground to attacks.   

"We are going to monitor behaviour and performance of these units," to guard against abuse, Askari said. "The idea is to put an army force in each zone to protect institutions and civilians."   

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has also instructed the top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, to work out specifics of a plan to help restore security in Baghdad with Iraqis in the lead and US forces in a supporting role.   

Iraqi politicians believe that army and police weakness in the face of violence and mass kidnappings comes partly because they lack autonomy and need prior agreement from US forces to act on the ground.   

Security in only three of Iraq's 18 provinces is under the control of local governors. Maliki is gradually taking charge of his army and should be in command of all 10 divisions by the middle of next year.   

Nevertheless, insurgent and sectarian violence is at an all-time high, and every day the streets of Baghdad are littered with the bodies of dozens of victims of shadowy death squads operating on behalf of political factions.   

Hadi al-Ameri, head of the Badr militia attached to one of the main parties in the Shiite bloc that leads the government -- the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq -- said militias filled in for weak authorities.   

"The government is weak, the army is weak and therefore people need to arm themselves and request protection from the Mahdi Army," he said referring to a rival militia that the Pentagon has blamed for much of Iraq's sectarian strife.   

Three people, including a policeman, were killed and five others wounded in renewed clashes with the Mahdi Army in the Shiite city of Samawa on Sunday after a truce collapsed, police Captain Ibrahim al-Zergani said.   

US President George W Bush is under huge pressure to unveil a plan to pull Iraq back from civil war and bring the 129,000 US troops home as public support for his venture in Iraq collapses and the American body count rises.   

Gates, who last week paid a fact-finding visit to Iraq shortly after being sworn in as defence chief, rushed back to meet Bush at his weekend retreat on Saturday to discuss the way forward.   

Although one possibility is beefing up troop numbers, the White House said that for the moment the president is leaving all policy options open.   

To date, 2,962 US service personnel have died during the Iraq campaign, the latest two soldiers killed in the Baghdad area, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures. More than 22,000 have been wounded.