A female suicide bomber blew herself up among a crowd of army recruits in Tal Afar in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least five recruits and wounding more than 30 others, an Interior Ministry source said.

"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," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"At least five people were killed and more than 30 others wounded in the attack," the source said.

Earlier in September, US and Iraqi troops launched a all-out offensive against insurgents in the flashpoint town of Tal Afar, killing about 200 suspects and capturing hundreds.

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

The ethnic Turkmen account for 90 percent of residents in Tal Afar, some 420 km north of Baghdad, and about 70 percent of them are Sunnis.

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2005 )