An unidentified bomber blew himself up among a crowd of men waiting to sign up to join the police force in the Iraqi city of Falluja, killing at least six people, doctors said on Wednesday.

At least 25 people were also wounded. No further details were immediately available.

Also, fourteen male bodies with bullet holes and showing signs of torture were found in Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

The corpses, also blindfolded and bound, were found in the capital's Shaab district. All the bodies were those of men between the ages of about 20 and 30, the police said.

US urges respect for Iraqi sovereignty

Meanwhile, the US government has called on Iraq's neighbours to respect the country's territorial sovereignty, with Turkey massing troops along its border with northern Iraq.

General Bekir Kalyoncu, a Turkish military officer, said on Tuesday that Ankara reserved the right to enter Iraqi territory to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels based there.

Turkey has deployed thousands of troops along its border with Iraq in what officials describe as a large-scale attempt to prevent infiltrations by rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), based in mountainous hideouts in northern Iraq.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives since the PKK began its separatist campaign in 1984.

Turkey has been trying to prevent increasing infiltrations by the PKK.

Ankara has often urged Washington and Baghdad to root out the PKK from northern Iraq but has been told that violence in other parts of the conflict-torn country is their priority.

The PKK has markedly stepped up its fighting this year. At least 20 members of the security forces have been killed in clashes and landmine attacks blamed on the rebels, while the PKK has lost at least 53 people.

The Turkish army conducted incursions into northern Iraq before the 2003 US-led invasion, with the support of local Iraqi Kurds.

But relations between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds have cooled since the invasion.

Washington also opposes cross-border operations on the grounds they could further complicate the already troubled security situation in Iraq.

Turkey has about 1,500 troops on Iraqi territory, stationed along the border since a major-cross border operation in 1997.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqis gather around the wreckage of a minibus following an explosion in a crowded Baghdad market. (AFP)