By Yasseen Taha and Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — A bombing in the mostly Kurdish town of Jalowlaa, northeast of Baqouba in Diyala province, killed at least 25 and injured at least 45 people, Iraqi police said.

The car bomb's target was a recruiting center where men were registering to become part of a new battalion in the security forces in Diyala province. Most of the men were members of the U.S.-backed Sons of Iraq militia, which American officials say has played a key role in undercutting support for Sunni extremists.

The bomber drove up to a checkpoint where tens of men were standing. The driver of the car posed as a security officer and as he was being questioned the car detonated at the checkpoint at about 10 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The new battalion was to be a support battalion formed by the Ministry of Interior following recent security operations in Diyala, police said. The force was to balance the ethnic and sectarian nature of the police, dominated mostly by Shiite Arabs.

A doctor who treated the wounded in the town said the hospital had received 30 bodies of dead recruits, a higher figure than police reported to McClatchy. Some of the bodies were so badly deformed from the explosion they could not be identified, police and medical sources said.

The wounded were taken to three hospitals in the Kurdish north and Diyala Province.

Special Correspondent Hussein Kadhim contributed to this report.