A suicide bomber killed at least 20 people and wounded another 20 in the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Thursday, police and hospital officials said.
Fallujah police spokesperson Hamid Abid said the bomber, wearing a suicide explosives vest, walked up to a queue of about 150 young men at a police recruitment centre and blew himself up.
Abid put the total number of killed and wounded at between 45 and 50.
Bilal Mohammed, a doctor at Fallujah hospital, said 20 had been killed and 20 wounded.
Fallujah, 50km west of Baghdad, is in restive Anbar province, a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgency.
Recruitment centres for Iraqi security forces are common targets for such attacks, which are mostly blamed on Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda.
Some Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar have been encouraging young men to join the Iraqi security forces in Anbar as part of a new strategy to combat al-Qaeda in the area.
Al-Qaeda in turn has been waging a campaign against tribes who cooperate with authorities in Anbar.
The United States military has more than 6 000 troops in Anbar, where local commanders have said that al Qaeda accounts for about 75% of militants in and around Fallujah. – Reuters