Car bomb kills 13 in Iraq's Ramadi-police

RAMADI, Iraq, Sep 18 (Reuters) A suicide car bomb at a police recruitment centre in Iraq's Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi killed 13 people and wounded 10 today, police said.

Police Captain Ahmed Ali told Reuters the suicide bomber struck outside the recruitment centre where a number of volunteers were seeking to join the police force.

The city is the capital of Anbar province, by far the deadliest for US troops. The vast desert forms a third of the country and is the heartland of its Sunni insurgency.

US forces have been drawing down their 30,000-strong contingent in the province to focus on the capital Baghdad, despite a Marine intelligence report leaked last week that said Washington would need another division in Anbar to defeat insurgents there.

''We're very optimistic about the future of that province,'' US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said today.

''But (victory) will not occur in the next 2-3 months, it's going to be a much longer time period.'' REUTERS PR RAI2028