Baghdad (CNN) -- At least 50 people were killed and 150 others wounded Tuesday after a suicide bomber wearing an explosive-packed vest detonated among a group of police recruits, police officials said.
The attacker blew himself up at a checkpoint where recruits usually wait for their turn to enter a recruiting center. The explosion caused a fire at a fuel station nearby, Tikrit police said.
Most killed and wounded were young men who came to join Iraqi police, police said.
The center is located at one of the former palaces of the oustedIraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the central Iraqi city of Tikrit -- about 160 kilometers (99 miles) north of Baghdad.
Local television reports have urged people to donate blood for victims.
Recruitment centers for Iraqi security forces have frequently been targeted in the past years and usually al Qaeda in Iraq claims responsibility for such attacks.
On August 17, 48 were killed when suicide bombers attacked a military recruitment center in the Bab al-Moudham commercial area of central Baghdad.
The same center was attacked again in September and 12 people were killed.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group for al Qaeda in Iraq, and other Sunni extremist groups claimed responsibility for that bombing, authorities said. CNN
