At least five people were killed and 16 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack at a recruitment center in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk on Wednesday, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

The attack occurred in the morning when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a crowd of young men lined up to join the Iraqi army at a recruitment center outside the city of al- Riyadh, some 45 km southwest of the provincial capital city of Kirkuk, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The toll could rise as ambulances and army vehicles were evacuating the casualties to the city hospitals and medical centers, the source said.

The ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, is part of the disputed areas claimed by the Kurds and both Arabs and Turkomans.