BAGHDAD // A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police recruits yesterday, killing at least 52 people and undercutting Iraqi security efforts as the nation struggles to show it can protect itself without foreign help.
The death toll was still rising more than three hours after police said the bomber joined a crowd of more than 100 recruits and detonated his explosives-packed vest outside the police station in the former president Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, about 130 kilometres north of Baghdad.
The attack starkly displayed the Iraqi forces' failure to plug even the most obvious holes in their security as the US military prepares to withdraw from Iraq at the year's end. One recruit who survived the blast said the job seekers were frisked before they entered the station's yard.
"We were waiting in the line to enter the police station yard after being searched when a powerful explosion threw me to the ground," said Quteiba Muhsin, whose legs were fractured in the blast. "I saw the dead bodies of two friends who were in the line. I am still in shock because of the explosion and the scene of my two dead friends."
Loudspeakers from the city's mosques were calling on people to donate blood for the wounded. An Iraqi television station broadcast footage from the scene that showed pools of blood, bits of clothing and shoes of the victims scattered near a concrete blast wall.
Tikrit police put the death toll at 45, with 140 wounded. Dr Anas Abdul Khaliq of Tikrit Hospital confirmed the casualty figures.
Tikrit is the capital of the Sunni-dominated Salahuddin province, and the city sheltered some of al Qa'eda's most fervent support after the US-led invasion in 2003 ousted Saddam.
A Salahuddin provincial councilman, Abdullah Jabara, accused al Qa'eda of being behind the attack.
"The aim of this terrorist attack carried out by al Qa'eda operatives is to shake the security in the province and to bring back instability to Tikrit," Mr Jabara said. "The security forces shoulder responsibility for this tragic incident."
Mr Jabara said insurgents successfully exploited what he called "inefficiencies" and "breaches" in security measures, calling it "an indication that the terrorists are still on the job and all security forces should be on high alert all the time".
One Tikrit policeman said at least two of the dead were police officers.
The group of recruits was the first to vie for 2,000 new police jobs that Iraq's interior ministry recently approved for Salahuddin. They were waiting for interviews and medical checks as part of the application process, another policeman said.
Insurgents have found recruitment centres a favourite target, taking advantage of lax security measures just outside protective barriers at police stations and the confusion caused by job seekers scrambling for work in a country with an unemployment rate as high as 30 per cent.
A taxi driver, Abdul Hamid Mikhlaf, described the scene in Tikrit as "horrific".
"I saw wounded people running in my direction calling for help and asking me to take them to the hospital immediately," he said. "I saw several bodies on the ground as the policemen started to shoot in the air."
