Suicide bomb kills more than 100

US citizen Hussein al-Saadi, 10, who was kidnapped for a ransom of 150,000 US dollars two weeks ago, is kissed by his father Saadi Abdul-Aziz as they are reunited in the southern town of Basra in Iraq Monday, after he was rescued by the Iraqi police who raided the kidnapper’s hideout. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A suicide car bomber blew himself up Monday in a crowd of police and Iraqi national guard recruits south of Baghdad, killing at least 106 and wounding 133, police and witnesses said. It was one of the deadliest insurgent attacks since President Bush declared the war over in May 2003.

Associated Press Television News footage showed large pools of blood outside the medical clinic, located on a dusty sreet. Scorch marks infused with blood covered the clinic walls and dozens of people gathered at the scene helped put body parts into blankets. Soles of shoes and tattered clothes were piled up in a corner.

Babil province police released a statement saying that 106 people were killed and 133 others were wounded in the blast in Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

‘‘A suicide car bomb hit a gathering of people who were applying for work in the security services. The incident led to the death of 106 people and injury of 133 citizens,’’ the statement said.

It added that ‘‘several people’’ were arrested about the blast. It did not elaborate.

Dozens of bodies could be seen laying on the ground after the blast, and half a dozen ambulances ferried casualties to a nearby hospital, witnesses said. The huge blast damaged nearby shops and parked cars, and sent panicked people fleeing.

‘‘People were queuing up to be checked medically in order to become policemen. A car came ... and exploded, killing more than 50 people, more than what you expect,’’ Ammar Mosa, a witness told APTN.

A second car bomb exploded Monday at a police checkpoint in Musayyib, about 20 miles north of Hillah, killing at least one policeman and wounding several others, police said on condition of anonymity.

The twin attacks came a day after Iraqi officials announced that Syria had captured and handed over Saddam Hussein’s half brother, a most-wanted leader in the Sunni-based insurgency, in the latest in a series of arrests of important insurgent figures that the Iraqi government hopes will deal a crushing blow to violent opposition forces.

The arrest of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan also ended months of Syrian denials that it was harboring fugitives from the ousted Saddam regime.

Iraq authorities said Damascus acted in a gesture of goodwill.

Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, who shared a mother with Saddam, was nabbed along with 29 other fugitive members of the former dictator’s Baath Party in Hasakah in northeastern Syria, 30 miles from the Iraqi border, the officials said Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. military in Iraq had no comment.

Syria is under intense pressure from the United States, the United Nations, France and Israel to drop its support for radical groups in the Middle East, to stop harboring Iraqi fugitives and to remove its troops from Lebanon.

A week ago authorities grabbed a key associate and the driver of Jordanian-born terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq and believed to be the inspiration of the ongoing bombings, beheadings and attacks on Iraqi and American forces. Iraqi officials said they expect to take al-Zarqawi soon.

Iraqis welcomed news of al-Hassan’s capture.

‘‘I hope all the terrorists will be arrested soon and we can live in peace,’’ said Safiya Nasser Sood, a 54-year-old Baghdad housewife. ‘‘Those criminals deserve death for the crimes they committed against the Iraqi people.’’