Two suicide bombers attacked a Baghdad police commando base on Sunday, killing 35 young men waiting to join the force, as Premier Nuri al-Maliki called for a cabinet reshuffle to stem the bloodshed. Another 19 people were killed in a series of bombs and shootings in and around Baghdad.
In the bloodiest attack, a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up as potential recruits gathered at the Iraqi National Police Base in west Baghdad's Qadissiyah neighbourhood, security officials said.
At least 60 more were wounded in the morning attack. Insurgents regularly target Iraq's fledgling security forces, often bombing recruitment drives as the government attempts to meet ambitious targets for signing up new personnel.
To help stem bloodshed that has already left more than 125 dead this week, Maliki called for a "comprehensive cabinet reshuffle," a statement from his office said.
In the face of the persistent violence, the country's political process appears to be increasingly fragile, with Sunni lawmakers on Wednesday threatening to leave the political process until their demands were addressed.
On Saturday, Maliki urged all political groups to help usher in "peace and not to arouse passions", and attacked the Sunni Arab parliamentary bloc for issuing threats.
"I strongly condemn statements about taking up weapons or abandoning the political process," Maliki said. The Sunni National Concord Front threatened to abandon the political process and take up arms if the Shiite-led government continued to ignore its calls to dismantle militias.
"If they do not respond to this request, we may abandon the political process and have no other choice but to take up arms," Salim Abdullah, spokesman for the bloc which holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament, told AFP on Wednesday.
Sunday's suicide attacks came just hours after twin bombings killed another four civilians in central Baghdad and wounded 10. A similar twin attack in central Baghdad's Babil al-Sharji area left five dead and seven wounded.
South of the capital in Radwaniyah, a roadside bomb destroyed a civilian car killing three people, while a car bomb near a school in Yusifiyah killed three and wounded 15.
Another car bomb killed one civilian and wounded five in east Baghdad's Karrada district, while another in the Mulmalif area on the capital's southern outskirts killed one and wounded six.
In south Baghdad, a municipal official and his driver were killed in an ambush, police said. The surge in violence and the Republicans' defeat in last week's US congressional elections have prompted a rethink from President George W. Bush's administration on its strategy in Iraq.
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