Shalit

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber who penetrated layers of security blew himself up in the busy lobby of a leading Baghdad hotel today, killing at least 12 people, including a U.S.-allied tribal sheik, police reported.

The attack, in which 21 others were wounded, was just one in a surge of five suicide and other bombings today that killed at least 32 people across Iraq.

In an equally deadly attack, a suicide truck bomber targeted an Iraqi police station shared with U.S. troops in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, killing nine people. Five American soldiers suffered minor wounds, the U.S. command said.

The bombing at the high-rise Mansour Hotel, on the west bank of the Tigris River in central Baghdad, struck at about noon as the lobby bustled with members of news media organizations headquartered at the hotel and other guests, witnesses said.

A man wearing a belt of explosives walked into the lobby, approached the reception desk and detonated his bomb, police reported.

"It was a great breach of security because there are three checkpoints, one outside and two inside," said hotel worker Saif al-Rubaie, 28, who witnessed the blast and said all the casualties were Iraqis, most employees in the reception area.

Police said the dead included hotel resident Fassal al-Guood, a Ramadi tribal sheik and former governor of Anbar province who was a leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, which has partnered with U.S. and Iraqi officials to fight al-Qaida influence in Anbar. A noted Iraqi poet, Rahim al-Maliki, also was killed, said Iraqi Media Net, the government organization on whose television network al-Maliki appeared.

Reports that al-Guood was a target of the bombing, possibly along with other Salvation Council sheiks, could not be confirmed.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas militants posted an audio message today from an Israeli soldier captured a year ago at an army base near the Gaza Strip, the first sign of life from the young serviceman since he was seized.In the message, posted on the Web site of Hamas' military wing, Cpl. Gilad Shalit sent greetings to his family and said his health was failing. He also expressed disappointment in the "lack of interest" of the Israeli government in his fate."I have spent a full year in prison, and my health is still deteriorating, and I need a prolonged hospitalization. I regret the lack of interest on the part of the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces in my case and their refusal to meet the demands of the al-Qassam brigades," he added.Shalit was captured on June 25, 2006, in a cross-border raid by militants from Hamas and two allied groups who tunneled into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Negotiations for his release, mediated by Egypt, have repeatedly broken down and been complicated since Hamas took control of Gaza two weeks ago.In the tape, Shalit called on the Israeli government to meet Palestinian demands for a large-scale prisoner swap.