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Dozens killed in suicide blast near Iraq police academy

  • Story Highlights
  • Suicide bomber kills 28 people outside Baghdad police academy
  • Interior Ministry: Man wore explosive-laden vest near police recruits
  • Fifty-seven others were wounded in blast
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From Mohammed Tawfeeq
CNN
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A man wearing an explosives-laden vest blew himself up outside a police recruitment center in eastern Baghdad Sunday, killing 30 people and wounding 61 others.

The man drove a motorcycle rigged with bombs into a group of recruits who had gathered outside the police academy, according to an Iraq Interior Ministry official.

The same academy was targeted on December 1 in a double bombing that killed 16 and wounded 46.

The facility is located in an area that includes the interior, oil and irrigation ministries. It also includes the army and national police compounds.

Iraq has 500,000 police officers on duty throughout the country, according to Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf of the interior ministry. Khalaf said the country needs 60,000 more officers.

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