A suicide car bomb struck a police checkpoint in the northern Iraqi city of Baquba on the main road leading to Baghdad on Wednesday, killing a civilian and wounding 13 people including eight policemen, an Interior Ministry source said.

"A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into several police vehicles forming a mobile checkpoint on an intersection of main roads in Baquba," the source told Xinhua.

The blast killed a civilian and wounded 13 people including eight policemen, the source said, adding that several police and civilian cars were also damaged in the attack.

Earlier, a female suicide bomber blew herself up among a crowd of army recruits in Tal Afar in northern Iraq, killing five recruits and wounding over 50 others, according to latest police reports.

"A female suicide bomber wearing an explosive-belt beneath her clothes sneaked near a crowd of Iraqis queuing at a recruitment center, near the government building of Tal Afar, and blew herself up," an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

Tal Afar, some 420 km north of Baghdad, was the scene of an all- out offensive launched by the US and Iraqi troops earlier this month. About 200 suspects were killed and hundreds captured in the town.

US authorities and the Iraqi government claimed that Tal Afar has been a stronghold for foreign fighters and insurgents against the US and Iraqi government forces.

Tal Afar's attack on Wednesday was the second suicide attack carried out by women in Iraq since the US-led coalition forces invaded the country in 2003.

On April 4, 2003, two female suicide bombers carried out an attack at a checkpoint near Haditha, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, killing three US marines and wounding two civilians.

Source: Xinhua