Wednesday, May 4 2005 14:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: An Iraqi carrying hidden explosives entered a police recruitment centre and set them off today (May 4, 2005), police said. At least 50 Iraqis were killed in the attack, the US military said.

State-owned TV in Iraqi and Al-Arabiya television gave a higher death toll, saying 60 were killed and as many as 150 wounded.

The attack in Irbil, a Kurdish city 350 kilometers north of Baghdad, appeared to be the deadliest by insurgents in Iraq since Feb. 28, when a suicide car bomber struck a crowd of police and national guard recruits outside a medical clinic in Hillah, south of the capital. That attack, which killed 110 people and wounded 133, was the single deadliest-ever in the insurgency.

Capt. Mark Walter, the spokesman who provided the US military death toll in Irbil, said that the blast occurred as many Iraqis were applying for Iraqi police jobs at the recruitment cerntre.

Ambulances and taxis raced to the chaotic scene and took casualties to local hospitals.

Insurgents have stepped up their attacks across Iraq in the last week, often targeting convoys of US and Iraqi troops, and Iraqi police on patrol or at recruitment centres.

A key goal of U.S. troops is to eventually train enough Iraqi security forces to reduce the role now being played by the Americans in fighting the insurgency.