Bomb blast kills 17 Iraqi army recruits

A bomb blast killed 17 new Iraqi army recruits and wounded 20 others on Sunday while they were travelling on a road near Baghdad, police and an army officer said.

It was unclear if the new recruits, who were in a truck, were killed by a roadside bomb or if a suicide car bomber had rammed in to their vehicle.

The recruits were Sunni Arabs from western Anbar province who had just joined the Iraqi security forces.