50 killed 150 injured in Tikrit blast

Kirkuk, Jan. 18 (AKnews)  - The death toll of a suicide bombing in the city of Tikrit, 108 km north of Baghdad, Tuesday targeting a police recruiting center has risen to 50 deaths and 150 injuries, according to a source in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior security source. The suicide attack is the first deadly attack in Iraq since the formation of the new Iraqi government on Dec. 21. No group has been officially blamed for the attack but fingers of accusation is are usually pointed at al-Qaeda. "Fifty people have been killed and 150 others injured in the attack, and the final toll may change" said the source, declining to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Some 300 young men were lining up in front of a volunteer police center in Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up among them. The area has been sealed off by the security forces and the injured were being rushed to the hospital already full of dead and injured people. Initial reports previously pointed to at least 14 deaths and 86 casualties, but officials warned the figure would rise. The province of Salahaddin is still the scene of frequent attacks by Sunni insurgents most prominently al-Qaeda. On Jan. 11, at least 6 Iraqi policemen were killed in a car bomb attack in Tikrit and several others weer wounded. reported by Ammar Ali, edited by Raber Y. Aziz Tuesday, January 18th 2011 1:45 PM