18 dead in attack on Iraqi civic HQ

Baghdad: A suicide bomber killed at least 18 people when he rammed a truck into a government building in northern Iraq on Thursday, partially knocking it down and demolishing nearby homes, police said.

Women, children and policemen were among the victims and many of them were buried in the rubble, police said.

The attack took place in Sulaiman Bek, a town about 90 km south of the city of Kirkuk that sits on the main road connecting Baghdad to the north.

A police captain in the town, Kudhaie Mohammed, said the truck bomber had driven into a government compound housing the local municipal headquarters and the city council.

He said 18 people had been killed and 76 wounded in the blast. Other police sources in the nearby town of Tuz Khurmato put the toll at 15.

Mechanical diggers were being used to unearth victims from the rubble, police said.

Sulaiman Bek, a mixed town of Arabs, ethnic Kurds and Turkmen, has witnessed a rise in violence in recent months as military convoys using the Baghdad road come under attack, police said.