Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber wearing an explosives-packed vest attacked a police recruitment center in northern Iraq Tuesday, a bloody strike that killed at least 65 people and wounded 160 others.

The attacker -- who blew himself up when he was among hundreds of recruits -- staged the assault at a checkpoint where people usually wait their turn to enter the center.

The explosion caused a fire at a fuel station nearby, police in Tikrit said, and most of those killed and wounded were young men who came to join police forces.