KIRKUK, June 21: At least 15 people were killed on Thursday when a suicide bomber exploded an oil tanker outside police headquarters in a northern Iraqi town, police and hospital officials said.

Another 66 people were wounded in the attack, including local politicians and police, according to an official in the hospital of a neighbouring town that was receiving victims.

The explosion took place in Suleiman Beg, about 90 kilometres south of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

“Several of the wounded are city council members and police officers, including the chief of police in Suleiman Beg, Hassan Ali Al-Bayati,” the hospital official said.

The attack gutted the police headquarters and two local administration buildings and fires raged near the crater of the explosion, a local police official said.

“Rescue efforts are still going on and they are still trying to put out the fires,” said Colonel Abbas Mohammed Amin, a police chief in the neighbouring town of Tuz Khurmatu.

He added that most of the victims had to be driven long distances for attention, with the nearest hospital more than 20 kilometres from the blast site.

Amin said the dead included two policemen and the wounded included 18 policemen and two local politicians. Ten of the wounded were in serious condition, he added.—AFP