January 18, 2011Worst bombing in Iraq in months claims at least 60 lives
BAGHDAD — In the worst terrorist attack in Iraq in months, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a gathering of police recruits on Tuesday, killing 60 people and wounding about 150, police officials said.
The attack in Tikrit, a city north of Baghdad that's best known as Saddam Hussein's hometown, was the latest to target Iraqi security forces, which have made considerable progress in fighting al Qaida-linked militants but continue to suffer sporadic violence.
Prospective police recruits were gathered outside a secured entrance to the provincial police headquarters for the third day of a recruiting drive when a bomber detonated a vest rigged with explosives at about 9:30 a.m., according to police officials in Tikrit.
A police spokesman, Col. Hatem Akram, said that officials had warned the recruits over loudspeakers to avoid collecting near the entrance because terrorists have targeted such gatherings in the past. In August, a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his legs killed more than 50 people at a police recruiting center in north-central Baghdad .
The victims in Tikrit, about 100 miles north of Baghdad , were mostly young men, police said.
"We have a lot of unemployment," Akram said. "All those people are poor people trying to find a job."
Yasir Sabeeh, director of a local satellite news channel, saw pools of blood and blown-up body parts at the scene of the bombing. When he visited the morgue he counted 37 bodies, many of which had been blown up beyond recognition.
"I couldn't stand the scene and left the place at once," he said.
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