In the most ****** ****** in a new surge of ******** across Iraq, a suicide bomber detonated himself Tuesday, Jan. 18, in a crowd of some 300 police applicants in the northern city of Tikrit, ******* at least 50 and wounding as many as 150 others, according to local media. Reports from the scene describe pickups piled high with bodies, ***** running down the sides of the vehicles. Hospitals are reported to be overloaded with critically injured patients, and a local mosque is calling on followers for emergency ***** donations.
The bombing, in the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein, who was executed in December 2006, is the bloodiest ****** since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's political bloc wrangled enough parliamentary seats to begin forming a new government. It is the worst in Iraq since the horrific siege of a Christian church in Baghdad that ****** 52 worshipers last Oct. 31. Al-Qaeda in Iraq and its offshoot are believed to be behind the episodes.
