Iraq's Defence Ministry said today the death toll in the suicide bomb attack on army recruits in the northern city of Mosul has risen to 40.
Another 30 people were wounded in the attack on a crowd of recruits who were queuing to join the Iraqi army at a joint US-Iraqi army base.
An Iraqi army spokesman said many of the injured were taken to the a US army base on the outskirts of Tal Afar, which is about 40 miles west of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.
Islamic militants and insurgents have kept up a relentless campaign of bombings against Iraqi army and security forces and police as part of their campaign to topple the government.
The attack came a day after dozens of people were shot dead in the Mustafa mosque near Sadr City in Baghdad in what some Shia leaders said was a massacre of worshippers by US troops.
In December 2004 a suicide bomber wearing Iraqi uniform blew himself up at a US armed forces mess tent in Mosul, killing 21 people, including 14 US troops and four other Americans.