Iraqi bomb tutor accidentally blows up class of terrorists

A TERRORIST instructor has accidentally killed himself and 21 of his students by detonating a belt packed with explosives during a bomb-making class in Iraq.

The Sunni militants were filming a propaganda video and learning how to make car bombs and explosive belts at a training camp outside Baghdad when a glitch set off one of the devices.

A further 15 people were injured and around two dozen people were later arrested at the camp, based outside Samarra, a Sunni city 95km north of the capital, Baghdad.

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The group belonged to a group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which is fighting the Iraqi government. The militant commander conducting the training was not identified by name, but one Iraqi army officer described him as a prolific recruiter.

"If there were such a thing, it would probably be rule No. 1 in the teaching manual for instructors of aspiring suicide bombers: Don't give lessons with live explosives," says the New York Times.

Iraqi citizens, who have become accustomed to daily attacks on public markets, mosques, funerals and even children's football games, are viewing the story as "a dark and delicious kind of poetic justice", says the newspaper. The country is facing its worst violence in more than five years, with nearly 9,000 people killed last year and almost 1,000 people killed last month alone.

One man, who works at a liquor store near a site that was attacked by terrorists last week, reportedly burst out laughing when he heard the news. "This is so funny," he said. "It shows how stupid they are, those dogs and sons of dogs."

Another local resident said he was told the news by a friend who was "so happy as if he was getting married". He added: "I hope that their graves burn and all the rest of them burn as well. I was not happy with the number killed, though: I wanted more of them to die, as I remember my friend who was killed by a suicide bomber in 2007."