BAGHDAD - A woman with explosives hidden beneath her black abaya detonated them Tuesday in a crowd of about 200 police recruits northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 16 people, police and hospital officials said.

A boy collects his books after a rocket landed at his schoolyard in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 10, 2007. [AP]

The woman walked into the crowd at the main gate of the Muqdadiyah police station and blew herself up, according to a police officer at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

At least 16 people were killed and 33 wounded in the mostly Sunni Muslim city about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Dr. Abdul Salam al-Jibour at Muqdadiyah General Hospital.

Meanwhile, US and Iraqi army forces were engaged in fierce fighting with gunmen in two Sunni-dominated neighborhoods of the capital, Fadhil and Sheik Omar, police and witnesses said.

An American helicopter in the battle came under ground fire but was not shot down, a senior US military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because US officials were still investigating.

Police said six people, including an Iraqi soldier, were killed and 21 wounded. Repeated artillery fire rang out across Baghdad at midday, but the target was unclear.

A parked car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Baghdad University, killing at least six people and wounding 11, police said. The bomb was packed into a yellow taxi cab near campus, and all of those hurt were civilians, police said.

A Katyusha rocket hit a basketball court at a boys school in eastern Baghdad, killing a 6-year-old boy and wounding 17 others - 15 students and two teachers, police said.

The US military announced the deaths Monday of four US soldiers - three killed by a roadside bomb and a secondary explosion in southeastern Baghdad and another killed in combat in western Anbar province.

The unit with the three dead soldiers had been conducting raids against militants in the area, and had recently captured five suspects, it said.

The fourth soldier was killed during combat operations in Iraq's western Anbar province, another statement said.

At least 3,285 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, on a four-day trip to Japan, said there was no need to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from his country.

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