[Al Arabiya Latest] An Al-Qaeda group on Friday claimed it was behind a suicide kaboom on a crowded Iraqi army recruitment centre in Baghdad that killed 59 people in the deadliest attack this year, US monitors said.The Islamic State of Iraq said Tuesday's attack, which coincided with the holy Mohammedan month of Ramadan, "struck a group of Shiites and 'apostates' who sold their faith for money and to be a tool in the war on Iraqi Sunnis," according to the SITE group which monitors Islamist websites.
The attack occurred ahead of the Aug. 31 end to U.S. combat operations in Iraq, a milestone in the war launched by former President George W. Bush 7-1/2 years ago. U.S. troop numbers will fall to 50,000 by the end of the month, from 52,000 now.
In a statement posted on a website often used by Islamist radicals, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a local al-Qaeda umbrella group, said the target was in a highly secure area.
"One of the heroes of the State of Islam ... armed with a suicide vest, targeted a gathering of disbelieving cattle and other apostates who sold their religion for little money ...," the statement said.
It said the army recruits were offering themselves as weapons in a war against Sunni Mohammedans waged by the Shiite-led authorities of Iraq.
"Our brother triggered and exploded his vest after plunging himself into the crowd," the statement said.
The sectarian conflict between minority Sunnis and majority Shiites that began after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion has largely subsided but a stubborn Sunni Islamist insurgency opposed to Shiite dominance of Iraq persists and attacks continue.
The Orcs and similar vermin have sought to exploit a political vacuum created by a failure of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions to agree on a coalition government five months after an inconclusive March 7 parliamentary election.
U.S. and Iraqi security officials say the attacks are also a message to supporters that the groups remain effective despite a series of blows to al-Qaeda's network, including an April raid that killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said in early June that 34 of the top 42 al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq had been killed or captured in the previous 90 days.