Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat- Iraq’s security agencies have been infiltrated by police officers and administrators backing the Sunni insurgency against government forces and U.S.-led troops, Accodring to Iraqi Interior Minister Baker Jaber Solagh.

in exlcusive comments made to Asharq Al-Awsat, Solagh revled that at least 3,000 “terrorists” had infiltrated his ministry’s security institutions, including a major general in the police force, and who were involved in theft and kidnapping operations.

He also revealed also that 500 suspected terrorists, including Arabs from various nationalities, and Europeans of Arab origin, had been arrested for carrying out terrorist attacks.

in other news, A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army recruiting center in northern Iraq on Monday, killing at least 15 people and wounding as many as 30, the Iraqi military said. At least 21 more bodies were found — many with nooses around their neck — and mortar and bomb attacks killed at least four people.

The bomber struck the center shortly after noon at an Iraqi army recruiting center, which is in front of a joint U.S.-Iraqi military base between Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city, and the ancient city of Tal Afar.

The nationalities of the victims were not immediately known. President Bush singled out Tal Afar in a recent speech as a success story for American and Iraqi forces in the drive to quell the insurgency.

Iraqi army Lt. Akram Eid told The Associated Press that many of the wounded were taken to the Sykes U.S. Army base on the outskirts of Tal Afar, which is near the Syrian border and about 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said it was checking the report.