Monday, March 27 2006 18:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: At least 40 people were killed and 20 others wounded today (Mar 27, 2006) when a suicide bomber blew him up in the midst of candidates waiting at an Iraqi army recruitment centre in northwest Iraq, an interior ministry official said.

"Forty people have died and 20 were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of candidates waiting at a recruitment centre for Iraq defence forces," the official said.

He said the explosion occurred at the Iraq army centre called Tamarat, located near the town of Tal Afar, which is close to the restive city of Mosul.

Earlier an official with the Nineveh governorate of which Mosul is the capital had also confirmed that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.

The latest attack is one of the bloodiest in the last four months after the November suicide bombing on a police recruitment centre in Ramadi which left 70 dead.