At least 60 people were killed in a suicide-bomb attack on a police recruitment center in the Iraqi town of Tikrit on Tuesday.
The latest attack targeting Iraqi security forces took place in the hometown of executed President Saddam Hussain, which is a Sunni-dominated stronghold of insurgency.
More than 100 people were injured in the worst militant attack in the country in three months.
The bomber, pretending to be one among hundreds of young candidates lined up for recruitment, blew himself up outside the center, north of Baghdad.
The high number of casualties indicate that the bomber was wearing a vest packed with as much as 50 kilograms of explosives. Most of the victims were police recruits, reports say. Deputy Governor of Salahuddin province Ahmed Abdul-Jabbar blamed the attack on al-Qaeda terrorists.
A rights group monitoring deaths in Iraq had warned last month that violence rates may remain steady in the near future, "indicative of an impassable minimum."
Iraq Body Count (IBC), which compiles its data using media reports and official information, expressed concern that "after nearly eight years, the security crisis in Iraq remains notable for its sheer relentlessness."
Despite a fall in violence since 2009, a number of occasional blasts have raised fears that sustained violence is returning to the country.
American troops, who have been supporting Iraqi forces since its invasion of the country in 2003, ended its active combat operations in August last year.
Washington has vowed that it will conform to a full withdrawal by the end of 2011, as agreed by the U.S. under the Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between the two countries.
During his meeting with U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden last week, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had vowed that Iraq would "meet the challenges it faces, whether it be security, political or otherwise."
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.