An Iraqi carrying hidden explosives has set them off inside a police recruitment centre in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, killing at least 50 Iraqis, the US military says.

The attack occurred on Wednesday as people were applying for Iraqi police jobs at the recruitment centre, said Captain Mark Walter, the spokesman who provided the US military toll.

Police officer Shwan Muhammad said it was not immediately clear where the bomber had hidden the explosives - under his clothing or in something he was carrying.

Earlier reports said it was a car bomb attack that killed at least 45 people.

The AFP news agency quoted a local governor as saying that another 90 were wounded in the attack.

Other media reports gave higher casualty figures, with Reuters quoting health sources as saying at least 60 people were killed and as many as 150 wounded.

Arbil, 350km north of Baghdad, is the domain of Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the two Kurdish factions in Iraq.

Roadside bombs

In another development, the US military said on Wednesday that two US soldiers had died in separate roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad.

The two attacks on US convoys in the capital occurred on Tuesday. Further information was withheld pending notification of the victims' relatives.

As of 3 May 2005, 1585 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

At least 1211 died as a result of hostile action, according to the Defence Department. The figures include four military civilians.

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