BAGHDAD - Police say a truck bomb has exploded near a Shiite mosque just after prayers, killing at least 55 people and wounding nearly 200 in northern Iraq.

The explosion is the deadliest since April 24 when back-to-back suicide bombings by women attackers killed 71 people outside a Shiite shrine in Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. Jamal Tahir, the police chief of Kirkuk, said the truck bomb exploded just after noon Saturday in a town just outside the city and wounded at least 170 people. He added that an investigation has yet to determine if the attack involved a suicide bomber or a parked truck.