BAGHDAD — The Iraq Police Service has drawn tens of thousands of new officers from the former army of Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi officials said 50,000 police officers recruited since July 2004 have come from Saddam's army. They said former Saddam officers would serve as a pool for up to another 100,000 military personnel though 2007.

Officials said Iraq plans to establish a police force of between 250,000 and 300,000 officers, Middle East Newsline reported. They said this would ensure a ratio of one officer per 100 people. In the West, the ratio is 1:3,000.

"The new recruitment for the Iraqi police must largely come from the former army," Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Al Assadi said.

Assadi said the recruitment of former army personnel was meant to ensure a pool of trained cadets for the police. He said the use of the Saddam army would also ease resentment among the 500,000 soldiers dismissed in 2003 after the United States toppled the regime in Baghdad.

The use of former Saddam officers has been approved by the United States, officials said. They said the U.S. military has concluded that former soldiers and officers could quickly be trained for police and counter-insurgency missions in Iraq. Former Saddam officers have been given a three-week refresher course before assuming police duties.

On Monday, Iraq's police was rocked by repeated insurgency attacks in which about 30 people were killed. The attacks included suicide bombings and mortars in the Sunni Triangle, including Baqouba and Mosul.

The Iraqi police has been expanded and improved over the last six months.

The United States has allocated $60 million for the equipping of the police force, including deliveries of armored vehicles and heavy weaponry.

The United States has also been training Iraqi troops and police in an effort to achieve independent security capability in mid-2006. Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iraq has 40,000 troops and police capable of fighting the insurgency. But Congress has been skeptical and Sen. Joseph Biden, who has toured Iraq, said Baghdad might have no more than 4,000 trained forces.