Many dead in Kirkuk police HQ attack

At least 30 people have been killed as suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a police HQ in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, medical sources say.

Officials said militants had tried to seize the compound after a bomb exploded at the gates, but were unsuccessful. A police chief was hurt.

No group has said it carried out the attack.

However, there has been a relative calm in recent days.

The attack took place at around 09:15 local time (06:15 GMT) in the centre of Kirkuk.

“I saw a vehicle stop at the checkpoint at the main entrance, and the police started checking it,” eyewitness Kosrat Hassan Karim told the AFP news agency.

“Suddenly, a loud explosion happened, it was terrifying.”

Two militants reportedly dressed in police uniforms and armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests rushed the main gate of the headquarters after the bomb was detonated.

One was killed immediately by police. They tried to dismantle the other’s suicide vest but were unsuccessful, so they shot him dead, reports said.

At least 90 people were injured including local police chief Brigadier Sarhad Qader and the press officer of the police directorate, whose conditions are described as critical. Both have been moved to a hospital in Irbil.

Firefighting chief Brig-Gen Naseh Mohammed put the death toll as high as 30.

The attack caused massive damage to nearby buildings.

Traffic in the city centre was stopped, and offices in the area were evacuated.

Two weeks ago at least 10 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the offices of the Kurdish Democratic Party in the city.

Days later, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people at a nearby village of Tuz Khurmato.

R.S