Military

DATE=2/10/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/BOMB (LONG)

NUMBER=2-312949

BYLINE= KIRK TROY

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Hospital and government officials say 45 people were killed and dozens more were injured when a suspected car bomb exploded outside a police station south of Baghdad. Kirk Troy reports from the Iraqi capital.

TEXT: The explosion ripped through a police station in the town of Iskandariya just before mid-day, overwhelming emergency services in the area. Police in Baghdad say they sent support and ambulances to the area 40-kilometers south of the capital.

The blast occurred as a large number of people waited outside the police station to apply for jobs.

U-S soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division set up a security perimeter around the area and refused to allow journalists in, while Iraqi authorities looked for survivors in the rubble. The police station and other structures nearby partially collapsed as a result of the blast.

A series of bombings around Iraq since last summer has killed hundreds of people, and police stations have become a common target. U-S military officials have blamed previous attacks on Iraqi insurgents loyal to Saddam Hussein.

The insurgents see the Iraqi police and others working with the new government as collaborators with the U-S-led occupation.

U-S military officials say they have seized a computer disc containing a letter written by a suspected al-Qaida operative, outlining a plan to incite a sectarian war in Iraq between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the letter was written by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian national suspected of having links to Ansar al-Islam, which is an al-Qaida-supported Muslim militant group operating inside Iraq.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, two attacks Monday claimed the lives of several policemen. In both attacks the officers were in their cars when another vehicle approached and gunmen opened fire. (SIGNED)

NEB/KT/AWP/RAE/MEM