(Raises death toll)

RAMADI, Iraq, March 27 (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb exploded outside a restaurant frequented by Iraqi police on a main road north of Ramadi, killing 17 people and wounding dozens more on Tuesday, a source at Ramadi hospital said.

The source said a high-ranking police officer was among the many policemen killed and wounded in the blast.

The blast targeted an area where local Sunni Arab tribes have taken a stand against al Qaeda, the latest in a string of such attacks in the western province of Anbar in recent months.

U.S. commanders say police and army recruitment in Anbar has risen sharply in Anbar since several tribes agreed to back efforts to fight al Qaeda in the mainly Sunni Arab province that has been a hotbed of the anti-American insurgency.

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