<p>The attack came a day after a spate of coordinated bomb attacks in western Iraq killed 10 people, raising questions over the capabilities of Iraqi security forces with just months to go before all US forces must pull out.<br /><br />Two members of the Salaheddin provincial council and a senior police officer were among the wounded in the blast at 12:45 pm (0945 GMT) in Tikrit, 160 kilometres north of Baghdad, a doctor said.<br /><br />“We have received 17 dead bodies, and around 50 other people are wounded,” said the doctor in Tikrit hospital. “Among the wounded are two provincial councillors and police Lieutenant Colonel Khalil al-Ramul.”<br /><br />The bomb was hidden inside a fuel canister at the entrance to the mosque where provincial officials often attend Friday prayers, the official said. Friday’s attack was the deadliest in Tikrit since a March 29 al-Qaeda raid on the city’s provincial council offices, which led to a bloody hours-long gun battle with security forces that left 58 people dead.<br /><br />In mid-January, a suicide bomber killed 50 people in a crowd waiting outside a police recruitment centre, the first major strike after the formation of a new government in December.</p>
<p>The attack came a day after a spate of coordinated bomb attacks in western Iraq killed 10 people, raising questions over the capabilities of Iraqi security forces with just months to go before all US forces must pull out.<br /><br />Two members of the Salaheddin provincial council and a senior police officer were among the wounded in the blast at 12:45 pm (0945 GMT) in Tikrit, 160 kilometres north of Baghdad, a doctor said.<br /><br />“We have received 17 dead bodies, and around 50 other people are wounded,” said the doctor in Tikrit hospital. “Among the wounded are two provincial councillors and police Lieutenant Colonel Khalil al-Ramul.”<br /><br />The bomb was hidden inside a fuel canister at the entrance to the mosque where provincial officials often attend Friday prayers, the official said. Friday’s attack was the deadliest in Tikrit since a March 29 al-Qaeda raid on the city’s provincial council offices, which led to a bloody hours-long gun battle with security forces that left 58 people dead.<br /><br />In mid-January, a suicide bomber killed 50 people in a crowd waiting outside a police recruitment centre, the first major strike after the formation of a new government in December.</p>