Iraq suicide bomb attack leaves at least 60 dead

The Al-Arabiya television station said at least 60 people were killed when a suicide bomber carrying hidden explosives entered a police recruitment centre in the Kurdish city of Irbil today and set them off.

The US military put the latest death toll at 50.

State-owned TV in Iraqi and Al-Arabiya television reported that as many as 150 were wounded.

The attack in Irbil, 217 miles north of Baghdad, appeared to be the deadliest by insurgents in Iraq since February 28, when a suicide car bomber struck a crowd of police and national guard recruits outside a medical clinic in Hillah, south of the capital.

That attack, which killed 110 people and wounded 133, was the single deadliest-ever in the insurgency.

Capt. Mark Walter, the spokesman who provided the US military death toll in Irbil, said the blast occurred as many Iraqis were applying for Iraqi police jobs at the recruitment centre.

Ambulances and taxis raced to the chaotic scene and took casualties to local hospitals.

Insurgents have stepped up their attacks across Iraq in the last week, often targeting convoys of US and Iraqi troops, and Iraqi police on patrol or at recruitment centres.

A key goal of US troops is to eventually train enough Iraqi security forces to reduce the role now being played by the Americans in fighting the insurgency.