Source:
CBS News/AP16 People Die, Including Two Officers; Al Qaeda Attacks Moving To Remote Areas
(CBS/AP) A suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday among a crowd of police recruits in northwestern Iraq, killing at least 16 men and wounding 14, an official said.
The blast occurred about 11 a.m. in Sinjar, a town near the Syrian border that was the site of the deadliest attack of the war - a series of suicide truck bombings last year that killed an estimated 500 people.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the latest attack. But it bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq, underscoring Iraqi claims that insurgents have fled to remote areas to escape a U.S.-Iraqi offensive under way in Mosul, which is about 74.57 miles east of Sinjar.
The top official in Sinjar, Dakhil Qassim, said the casualties would have been higher, but the security services had received tips that police recruiting centers would be targeted and had issued a warning on Wednesday advising people to stay away.
...
"We told them that there are no more recruiting for security reasons," Qassim said. "But people gathered at recruiting center anyway hoping that some official might register their names."
Despite the risks, jobs in the police force are prized in areas of the country where unemployment runs high.
Read more:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/29/iraq/main4134524.shtml