Suicide bomb kills 50 at Iraqi police centre in Tikrit
The attack happened outside a police station where recruits had gathered to apply for jobs
A suicide bomber has killed at least 50 people outside a police recruitment centre in the Iraqi town of Tikrit, officials say.
At least 100 other people were injured in the blast in the town, some 80 miles (130 km) north of Baghdad.
The toll from Tuesday morning's blast was the highest from a single attack since a Baghdad church siege in October which killed more than 50 people.
Violence in Iraq has ebbed in recent years, but deadly attacks persist.
The bomber - wearing a vest packed with explosives - was in the middle of about 100 volunteers who were waiting outside the building to be interviewed, witnesses said.
Most of his victims were police recruits, officials say.
Saddam hometownAhmed Abdul-Jabbar, deputy governor of Salahuddin province, said the attack was the work of "terrorists".
"Who else would it be but al Qaeda, who keep on slaughtering us?" he said.
Timeline: Recent Iraq attacks
- 25 August 2010: String of attacks targeting Iraqi security forces and checkpoints across the country kill more than 50
- 19 September 2010: Series of bomb attacks in two neighbourhoods of Baghdad kill more than 20
- 31 October 2010: Botched hostage-taking at Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad kills 50
- 2 November 2010: Series of Baghdad bomb attacks kill 70 people
- 18 January 2011: Suicide bomb attack on Tikrit police recruitment centre kills at least 50
Tikrit's main hospital has been inundated with casualties, reports say, and local mosques have been broadcasting appeals for residents to donate blood.
The death toll is unusually high for a suicide bombing carried out by one man operating on foot, analysts say. Some estimate the bomber may have been carrying as much as 50kg of explosives.
Predominantly Sunni Tikrit is a stronghold of the insurgency. The home town of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, it retains a lot of residual sympathy and nostalgia for his overthrown Ba'athist regime.
An attack on the police academy in the city killed 40 people in 2007. Iraqi police and army recruiting centres are often targeted by suicide bombers.
Serious as it is, this last attack comes against a background of steadily improving security in the country, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad, but it is proving very hard to stamp out the violence altogether.
Overall violence has fallen sharply since the height of the sectarian killings of 2006-07, but shootings and bombings remain a daily occurrence.
US forces formally ended their combat operations last August, ahead of a planned full withdrawal later this year.
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