Two men strapped with explosives detonated themselves at Baghdad's police academy Tuesday, killing 37 people and wounding dozens more, officials said, while al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video of a man purported to be a US security consultant.

The men were wearing explosives-laden vests and a US contractor was among those wounded, a US military statement said. US forces rushed to the scene to provide assistance, the statement said. The military retracted an earlier statement that the bombers were women.

"One of the suicide bombers detonated near a group of students outside a classroom," the Task Force Baghdad said. "Thinking the explosion was an indirect-fire attack, (Iraqi police) and students fled to a bunker for shelter where the second bomber detonated his vest."

Five female police officers were among the dead, Iraqi police said.

Tuesday's attack was the deadliest against Iraqi forces since February 28, when a suicide car bomber attacked mostly Shi'ite police and National Guard recruits in Hillah, killing 125.

US consultant reportedly kidnapped

In a mid-afternoon broadcast, al-Jazeera television Tuesday broadcast an Iraqi insurgent video that purported to show a kidnapped US security consultant.

The video showed a blond, Western-looking man sitting down with his hands tied behind his back. The video also bore the logo of the Islamic Army in Iraq and showed a US passport and an identification card.

The authenticity of the video could not be immediately confirmed.

If true, the man would become the second American taken hostage in the last two weeks. A US citizen was among four peace activists taken hostage on November 27 by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness. Two Canadians and a Briton were also part of that group.

A French engineer was taken hostage in Baghdad on Monday and a German aid worker was abducted near Mosul on November 26.

In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Monday encouraged the kidnappers of the Briton to make contact, saying "we stand ready to hear what they have to say."

The British Broadcasting Corp. cited a Western diplomat in Baghdad as saying direct contact had been made with the hostage-takers. It did not name the diplomat.

Straw, however, underlined the British Government's refusal to negotiate with kidnappers or pay ransom.

There is no evidence the kidnappings were coordinated. But the incidents do seem timed to Saddam's trial or the December 15 elections.

(China Daily December 7, 2005)