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Bomber strikes Iraq police centre
Up to 13 people are killed in attack on police recruitment centre.
Last Modified: 20 Dec 2007 15:01 GMT

At least 13 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the Iraqi province of Diyala, north of Baghdad.
 
Police said 10 more people were wounded in the attack on Thursday which targeted a recruiting centre for neighbourhood police patrols.
 
The police said US soldiers may have been among the casualties and that the toll could rise.
Neighbourhood patrols have worked with US forces to confront al-Qaeda fighters, one of the tactics Washington says has led to a 60 per cent decrease in attacks in Iraq since June.
 
The patrols are now being increasingly targeted.
 
US commanders say al-Qaeda has regrouped in northern provinces, including Diyala, after being pushed out of other parts of Iraq.
 
Al-Sadr ceasefire
 
US commanders also claim that a ceasefire by fighters of the al-Mahdi Army, loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shia figure, is lowering the bloodshed in the country.
 
Al-Sadr's spokesman said the leader was considering extending the six-month truce after it expires in February.
 
Al-Sadr, who led uprisings against US troops in 2004 and whose followers were later described by US commanders as their greatest threat, surprised both Iraqis and US forces when he ordered the initial six-month freeze on his group in August.
 
On Wednesday in Najaf, al-Sadr's spokesman, said: "Yes, there is a chance that the freeze on the Mahdi Army will be extended."
 
The son of a prominent Shia scholar killed under the government of Saddam Hussein, al-Sadr has wide influence in the Shia south and parts of Baghdad although he does not himself carry religious standing.
Source:
Agencies
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