At least 25 people were killed in Iraq Saturday as separate bomb blasts targeted would-be police recruits in Baghdad and a police checkpoint in Mahmoudiya, south of the capital, dpa reported. Some 20 volunteers were killed and scores injured in the Baghdad blast, which occurred at the gates of the city's police headquarters in Nisour Square, west Baghdad. Interior Ministry sources said the casualty toll could rise as the area was crowded. The national broadcaster al-Iraqiya put the death toll at 20 and said 20 volunteers had been injured. Meanwhile, a car bomber struck a police checkpoint near a bank in Mahmoudiya on Saturday, killing at least five people and injuring 12, police said. Most of the victims were civilians. The incident took place in a commercial part of the town, which lies south of Baghdad. In another development, Iraq Security Forces and approximately 1,000 U.S. troops continued conducting security operations along the Euphrates River between the cities of Haditha and Hit in northwest Iraq, said a U.S. military statement Saturday. The military said Operation Sword (Saif) began June 28 and is currently focusing on clearing terrorists and foreign fighters from Hit. Resistance is still being reported by commanders in the city as "light", with no fatalities among Iraqi or U.S. forces. In the northern city of Kirkuk, seven people died in three separate insurgent attacks. In one attack gunmen opened fire on a car, killing two hospital guards and two civilians, one of them a woman. --SP 1957 Local Time 1657 GMT
