BAGHDAD—A suicide bomber killed at least 49 people and wounded dozens at an Iraqi police building in the city of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, bringing an end to the period of relative calm that has prevailed since a new national unity government was formed last month.
The bomber struck in the early morning when hundreds of applicants had gathered outside police headquarters on the second day of a recruitment drive, according to officials in the local government in Salaheddin province, whose seat is Tikrit.
The applicants had congregated in an open space cordoned off with concertina wire and were being led into the police station building, which is barricaded with tall blast walls, in groups of 40 after a body search, according to police Col. Wahab Hamid. He said the bomber probably managed to infiltrate the crowd by posing as a recruit.
"I predict the al Qaeda network and outside parties are behind this attack to prevent the sons of the province from joining the police force," said Raad Mohammed, a spokesman for the local government., without being more specific.
Suicide bombings against crowds gathered for coveted jobs in the Iraqi forces were frequent after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The attacks, which are often seen as trademarks of al Qaeda-linked groups, have persisted even as overall levels of violence have fallen sharply in recent years.
In August a suicide bomber blew himself up amid a group of Iraqi army recruits in Baghdad, killing almost 60.
Col. Hamid said he was driving out of the Tikrit police building, but was still behind the blast walls when the bomber struck outside. "Bodies were tossed all over the place," said Col. Hamid, who spoke by phone from Tikrit after he was treated at the local hospital for his wounds.
The Tikrit Teaching Hospital was overwhelmed with casualties that reached at least 49 dead and 150 wounded, according to Mohammed Ayash, a medic in the ER unit.
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