Dozens feared dead in suicide attack on Iraq military base

A suicide bomber attacked a joint US-Iraqi military base in northern Iraq today, killing at least 15 people and wounding as many as 30, the Iraqi military said.

The nationalities of the victims were not immediately known.

News reports claimed as many as 30 could have been killed.

The attack was reported shortly after noon local time at an Iraqi army recruiting centre in front of the base, which is about 18 miles east of Tal Afar, the ancient city that President Bush singled out in a recent speech as a success story for American and Iraqi forces in the drive to quell the insurgency.

Iraqi army Lt. Akram Eid said many of the injured were taken to the Sykes US Army base on the outskirts of Tal Afar, which is about 40 miles west of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city.

The US military in Baghdad said it was checking the report.