Suicide Bomber Decimates Iraqi Police Recruits

At least 50 dead
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 18, 2011 9:50 AM CST
Suicide Bomber Decimates Iraqi Police Recruits
Injured Iraqis receive treatment at a hospital in Tikrit, after a suicide bomb attack in this image taken from TV Tuesday Jan. 18. 2011.   (AP Photo/Salah Al-Din via APTN)

A suicide bomber posing as a police recruit killed at least 50 people and injured more than 150 more in Iraq today. Many of the dead were police or their prospective recruits, who had gathered at a parade ground in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, the New York Times reports.

One Iraqi parliament member criticized police for being ill-prepared, and holding the event out in the open, instead of simply recruiting online. “I’m asking the security forces, isn’t it enough?” he said on TV. “Isn’t it time to take into account the previous … attacks that have killed thousands of Iraqis?” (More Iraq stories.)

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