A suicide bomber attacked a group of police recruits at the recruiting station, leaving at least 25 dead and another 45 wounded.

U.S. Army officials traveled to the police headquarters in the predominately Kurdish area in north Diyala to vet theories regarding who organized the attacks, Stars and Stripes, the U.S. Armed Forces newspaper, said Thursday.

The region of Diyala had experienced heightened tensions between ethnic Kurds and Arabs in the region. Several local officials blamed Sunni sheiks for nepotism in the hiring practices for the Jalawlah police force.

Jalawlah Police Lt. Col. Ahmed Mohammad Khaleel said the tribal leaders pressured his unit to hire only Sunni recruits from the area. He also blamed the sheiks for persuading officials to hire recruits who were al-Qaida sympathizers in order to control certain checkpoints in the area.

U.S. officials said it may take weeks to determine who was responsible for the attack.

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