Baghdad , Iraq ( CNN ) -- A suicide bomber wearing an explosives-packed vest attacked a police recruitment center in northern Iraq Tuesday , a bloody strike that killed at least 65 people and wounded 160 others . The attacker -- who blew himself up when he was among hundreds of recruits -- staged the assault at a checkpoint where people usually wait their turn to enter the center . The explosion caused a fire at a fuel station nearby , police in Tikrit said , and most of those killed and wounded were young men who came to join police forces . Tikrit 's general hospital was overwhelmed with wounded people , some of whom had to be sent to hospitals in nearby towns of the Salaheddin province and to other locations , such as Irbil and Kirkuk . Salaheddin Deputy Governor Ameen Mohammed told Iraqiya state TV that security forces in the province are on full alert , and police said the local government announced a three-day mourning period in Salaheddin . Iraqi Prime Nuri al-Maliki wants to get to the bottom of the incident , which he calls the latest of similar `` heinous crimes . '' He said it reflects `` clear negligence and a shortcoming by the concerned authorities , so we will follow up this matter with all seriousness in order to determine those who are negligent , particularly those who are responsible of the recruitment cases and those who are behind today 's painful tragedy . '' Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi deplored what he called a `` cowardly '' act . `` This new tragedy added to the tragedies of the unemployment of Iraqi youth , '' al-Hashimi said . The vice president called on authorities to tackle unemployment and to keep young people from sinking into hunger and crime . He also said authorities need to reconsider how to protect recruits at such centers , which he called soft targets . Mosques urged Tikrit residents to donate blood for the wounded . The center is located nearly 100 miles north of Baghdad in Tikrit , the hometown of late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein , and the facility is in one of Hussein 's former palaces . There has been no claim of responsibility but al Qaeda in Iraq , the Sunni Muslim-dominated militant group , has frequently claimed responsibility for such attacks . Tikrit is largely a Sunni Muslim city . Iraqi recruitment centers have frequently been targeted in warfare over the years . On August 17 , 48 were killed when suicide bombers attacked a military recruitment center in the Bab al-Moudham commercial area of central Baghdad . The same center was attacked again in September , and 12 people were killed . The Islamic State of Iraq , an umbrella group for al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni extremist groups , claimed responsibility for that bombing , authorities said . U.S. troops have ended their combat mission in Iraq and have focused on training and advising . But they feel the violence that occasionally erupts . On Saturday , three U.S. soldiers were killed , two in northern Iraq and another in the central part of the country . Under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement , all U.S. troops are to leave Iraq by the end of the year . There are fewer than 50,000 American service members there now . CNN 's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report .
Police say the attacks targeted police officers . Tikrit is nearly 100 miles north of Baghdad . Shopping centers have been frequently attacked .