Suicide bomber kills 64 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters/AFP) - A suicide truck bomb killed 64 people leaving a mosque in northern Iraq on Saturday, hours after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki declared victory as the country began to end a foreign occupation with the withdrawal of United States combat troops from cities, and told Iraqis not to lose faith if the US military pullback resulted in more insurgent attacks.
Almost all US soldiers will leave urban centres by June 30 under a bilateral security pact signed last year and the entire force that invaded the country in 2003 must be gone by 2012.
Dont lose heart if a breach of security occurs here or there, Maliki told leaders from the ethnic Turkmen community, reiterating a warning that insurgents were likely to try to take advantage of the US pull-back to launch more attacks.
It is a great victory for Iraqis that we are taking the first step towards ending the foreign presence in Iraq, he said.
I, and you, are sure that many dont want us to succeed and celebrate this victory. They are getting themselves ready to move in the dark to destabilise the situation, but we will be ready for them, God willing.
Hours after Maliki spoke, a suicide bomber detonated a truck filled with explosives as crowds of worshippers left a mosque near Kirkuk, a northern city contested by Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds that sits over vast oil reserves.
Fifty-six people died, including women and children, and 170 were wounded as dozens of clay homes in the area were flattened.
I was sitting in my house when suddenly a powerful blast shook the ground under me, said Hussain Nashaat, 35, his head wrapped in white bandages. I found myself covered in blood and ran outside in a daze. My lovely neighbourhood was just rubble.
Outside, security officials brandished assault rifles to stop traffic as pick-up trucks raced through the gates carrying more victims of the blast at the al-Rasul Mosque.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Al-Qaeda was resorting to paying people to fight for it, as well as recruiting some Shias drawn by the cash. He said it had also turned to criminal activities to raise funds.
Instead of recruiting people through faith or ideology, as it was in the past, now they are paying money to recruit people, Khalaf told reporters.
A suicide car bomber killed four policemen near Falluja in western Anbar province, once the heartland of the insurgency, on Saturday.
On Saturday, the US military handed Iraqi forces control of a base in the capitals sprawling Sadr City slum, a hotbed of support for fiery anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and a major former battleground for US forces.
The land we stand on today has been bought at a very high price, said US Maj-Gen Daniel Bolger. Fighting here was fierce and deadly. Thank God the worst of that has passed.
Frontline US army commanders say the withdrawal of American troops from the troubled northern city of Mosul is mired in confusion just 12 days ahead of the deadline for them to pull out.
Officers have told AFP they urgently need new rules to protect their men in the event of a dispute after June 30, when US soldiers must leave cities and major towns nationwide.
They also believe the political message emanating from Baghdad about the US withdrawal has created a false impression among Iraqi citizens that American troops will no longer be seen on Mosuls streets when, in fact, they will.