Iraq bomber kills army recruits

A police patrol in Kirkuk was hit by a roadside bomb

At least 10 people have died and 13 have been wounded in a suicide bombing at an Iraqi army recruiting centre west of Baghdad, officials say.

The bomber detonated a vest of explosives as potential recruits were gathering at the centre in Abu Ghraib, a town on the outskirts of the capital.

Attacks by insurgents have continued unabated despite a US-led security crackdown launched in February.

Recruits to Iraq's army and police forces are frequent targets.

The bodies of at least five Iraqi police officers were found shot and dumped in a field outside the city of Baiji, 250km (155 miles) north of Baghdad on Friday.

Reversal in position

The BBC's Andrew North, in Baghdad, says all the men killed in the suicide bombing are believed to be Sunni Arabs from the surrounding area.

They are also thought to be members of a tribe which has joined with others against al-Qaeda because of opposition to some of its extremist policies.

As part of efforts to combat the group, tribal leaders have been urging people to join police and army units in the area.

It is a complete reversal in position, our correspondent says.

In the past, many local Sunnis may have co-operated with the insurgency and worked against the security forces.

This is a trend the US military has been trying to encourage.

But al-Qaeda has been fighting back, targeting members of the tribal alliance and Iraqi security forces, our correspondent adds.

In other violence, a bystander was killed in the northern oil city of Kirkuk when a roadside bomb attack targeted a passing police patrol.

A police officer died in a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad's Yarmuk neighbourhood, while a woman was killed by a mortar round in south-west Bayaa district.

Six men were killed and a woman and five children wounded after US helicopters fired on three houses in eastern Baghdad, the Associated Press reports.

In other news from Iraq:

• An audio recording purported to be of Abu Ayyub al-Masri - al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, whom the government said last week had been killed - is aired on a militant website
• The Association of Muslim Scholars, a prominent Sunni group in Iraq, accuses the government of immoral crimes against Sunni worshippers in Baghdad, saying mosques have been targeted by troops