Suicide bomber kills 12 Sunni militiamen in Iraq

By Habib al-Zubaidy

ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 12 Sunni Arab militiamen queuing to collect overdue pay cheques at an Iraqi army post south of Baghdad on Saturday, and wounded 32, police said.

A series of attacks this week have alarmed Iraqis as they ponder whether a sharp drop in violence set off by the 2003 U.S. invasion can be sustained as Iraqi forces take the lead from U.S. troops in providing security.

Five U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi policemen died on Friday when a suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with explosives at a police post in the northern city of Mosul. Earlier in the week, bombings in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad killed at least 44 people.

U.S. and Iraqi officials said the Mosul and Baghdad bombings bore the hallmarks of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.

Saturday's attack was in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, once part of an area known as the "Triangle of Death" where Sunni extremists like al Qaeda frequently attacked Shi'ite Muslims.

"What have we done to deserve this?" said patrolman Mohammed al-Janabi, who was badly wounded in the abdomen and legs.

"We helped to make this area safe and when we come to receive our salaries, our bodies are ripped apart. God damn al Qaeda, God damn al Qaeda," he shouted.

The U.S.-sponsored Sunni patrolmen, or Sahwas, helped cut the violence in Iraq after they turned on al Qaeda and other insurgents, but ties between them and the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad have been strained by recent arrests.