BAGHDAD - A suicide bombing tore through a line of recruits waiting to enter a police academy as multiple blasts struck Iraqi security forces Monday, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens including four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi general.

The wave of violence in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul occurred as U.S. combat deaths for November dropped to one of the lowest monthly levels of the war — eight — a sign that extremists are focusing on Iraqi forces as the U.S. scales down its battlefield role.