Baghdad bomb targets police recruits
U.S. says body of second beheaded American hostage found
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 A car bomb targets Iraqi police recruits in Baghdad.
 Insurgents kill an American hostage held in Iraq.
 President Bush praises the new Iraqi regime in his U.N. speech.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Apparently targeting Iraqi police recruits in Baghdad, a car bomb attack Wednesday killed at least 12 people and wounded 57 others, Iraqi police said.
The blast shook a crowded street near a police recruitment center in front of an ice cream shop frequented by recruits in western Baghdad. About 16 vehicles were damaged or destroyed.
Iraqi and American personnel found a second car bomb in the area and detonated it.
A series of insurgent attacks have aimed at police stations or recruitment centers.
Later Wednesday, a car bomb in Baghdad's Mansur neighborhood wounded four American soldiers, the U.S. military said. Two Humvees and a third vehicle at the scene burned.
Two people were in the car when it detonated, a police source said.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, U.S. troops and Iraqi police Wednesday killed four insurgents and arrested 27 others in a raid along Haifa Street, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said.
Last week, a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol arrested 40 people in the insurgent stronghold.
Forces confiscated weapons in Wednesday's operation, including small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, mortar launching tubes and rockets.
North of the capital, 14 insurgents were killed Wednesday in Samarra in clashes with U.S. troops, according to the Army's 1st Infantry Division. The fighting involved repeated attacks by insurgents on a patrol 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Baghdad. There were no reports of injuries to U.S. troops.
Near Tikrit, an insurgent attack with an improvised explosive device killed an American soldier Wednesday, the military said.
A U.S. soldier also died Wednesday from injuries in an attack on a patrol in the northern city of Mosul, the military said.
The number of Americans who have died in the Iraq war stands at 1,039.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad confirmed the identity of a headless body that Iraqi authorities found Wednesday. U.S. officials notified relatives of Jack Hensley of Marietta, Georgia, that his body was discovered, the man's family said. (Full story)
The Unification and Jihad group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Tuesday claimed responsibility for the slaying on a Web site.
The group beheaded fellow American captive Eugene Armstrong on Monday and has vowed to kill a third hostage, Kenneth Bigley of Britain.
Two videos were posted on an Islamist Web site Wednesday: one showing the beheading of Hensley, the other showing Bigley pleading for help from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to spare his life.
The Hensley video showed five masked men, dressed in black, standing behind the blindfolded American. One man read a statement and the other bore a machete-like knife.
"The Americans enjoy watching blood, and they are not learning from the previous lessons," the voice said. "Because they did not implement our demands, we are going to show them the beheading of the second American."
In the Bigley video, the Briton tearfully pleaded for Blair to help secure his release, saying, "Please, please help me." (Full story)
Bigley, wearing orange clothing, sat in front of a flag bearing the Arabic name of the Unification and Jihad group and the message "In the name of God, the Merciful."
"I think this is possibly my last chance to speak to somebody who will listen," Bigley, 62, said in the 11-minute video. "I don't want to die here."
To Blair, he said, "I need you to be compassionate as you've always said you were and help me, help me live so that I can see my wife and son."
The hostage takers have demanded the release of female prisoners in Iraq.
Other developments
Kasim Daoud, Iraq's national security adviser, said Wednesday that three detainees -- among them Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha al-Azawi, also known as "Dr. Germ" -- would be released soon because no charges were being brought against them. However, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in New York said Taha's case had not been decided and that her release was not imminent, The Associated Press reported. (Full story)NATO allies reached an agreement Wednesday on a training mission in Iraq, an alliance spokesman said. Under the agreement, NATO will build a military training center outside Baghdad. The alliance will help coordinate equipping the Iraqi forces and will take control of the training of Iraqi security forces inside and outside Iraq, the spokesman said.An American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter made an emergency landing Tuesday night near Nasiriya, southeast of Baghdad, slightly injuring three crew members, according to a spokesman at the Combined Press Information Center.U.S. forces and Iraqi police raided the office of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday in the south-central city of Najaf, arresting several of his aides and confiscating thousands of weapons, Najaf's governor said.Two U.S. soldiers have been charged in the deaths of three Iraqis, the Army's 1st Cavalry Division said Tuesday. Sgt. Michael P. Williams and Spc. Brent W. May have been charged with premeditated murder, and Williams has been charged with obstruction of justice and making a false official statement. The military did not release any further details.CNN's Thaira al-Hilli, Ayman Mohyeldin, Mike Mount, Faris Qasira, Auday Sadik and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
