A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army recruiting centre today in northern Iraq, killing at least 40 people and wounding 30 others, the Iraqi military said.

A bomb planted near a tea stand killed eight men waiting for jobs in a largely Shiite area of Baghdad today and six other people died in scattered violence across the country.

The US military will not hand over jails or individual detainees to Iraqi authorities until they demonstrate higher standards of care, an American official said, two weeks after the discovery of 120 abused Iraqi prisoners.

Iraqi troops will be ready to take charge of security in the country by the end of next year, so this month’s UN Security Council extension of the mandate for multinational force in Iraq could be the last, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said today.

THE Iraqi government said yesterday a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week in what it dubbed Operation Lightning.