(Adds attack at college)

By Dean Yates

BAGHDAD, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 17 people and wounded 25 outside a Baghdad college on Sunday as insurgents defied efforts by U.S. and Iraqi security forces to stabilise the capital.

Police said the bomber was wearing a vest packed with explosives and had tried to enter the grounds of Baghdad's Economy and Administration College when guards stopped him. He then blew himself up, police said.

Insurgents have regularly attacked universities in Baghdad. The attack was among a string of car bombings and rocket strikes across the city on Sunday.

In a bold challenge to the security crackdown in the capital, regarded as a last chance to reverse Iraq's descent into civil war, gunmen had stormed an Iraqi police checkpoint near Baghdad airport on Saturday, killing eight policemen.

On Sunday, rockets and mortar bombs crashed into a market in a Shi'ite area in southern Baghdad and there were conflicting reports about casualties, police said.

One police source said 10 people were killed in the attack in the Abu Dsher area of Doura neighbourhood. Two other police sources said no more than three people had been wounded.

A car bomb killed one person and wounded four in central Baghdad, not far from the Iranian embassy, police said.

Police said the diplomatic mission did not appear to have been the target. The embassy compound was not damaged.

Another car bomb exploded along a commercial street in central Baghdad, in the Karrada district, sending a plume of black smoke into the air. One police source said four people were wounded while another said there were no casualties.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expressed optimism on Saturday about the 10-day-old security plan and said U.S. and Iraqi forces had killed about 400 suspected militants since it began.

U.S. forces have set up joint security outposts with Iraqi forces around the city and the crackdown does appear to have reduced the number of bodies found tortured and shot in the city, apparent victims of death squads.

A typical daily body count had been around 40 or 50 a day in recent months but since the start of the plan it has been between five and 20. However, U.S. commanders say it will take months to judge the success of the offensive. (Additional reporting by Mussab Al-Khairalla, Aseel Kami, Ibon Villelabeitia and Claudia Parsons)

AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink