At least 40 dead in Iraq from suicide bombing outside army recruitment centre

By Shabtai Gold

Baghdad (dpa) – At least 40 people were killed Tuesday morning

 when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Iraqi army

 recruiting centre in Baghdad, officials were quoted by local media as

 saying.

 At least 100 people were also injured in the blast which appeared

 to be targeting mostly soldiers, police and new recruits.

 Further details were not immediately available.

 Security forces have increasingly been coming under attack from

 insurgents in recent months as the United States starts to wind down

 its presence in Iraq.

 The US military, which led the invasion in 2003, remains on track

 for ending major combat operations in Iraq by the end of this month

 and reducing its presence to about 50,000 soldiers. All US forces are

 scheduled to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, the White House has

 confirmed.