Seven policemen were killed and 35 others were wounded in a suicide car bombing at a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk this morning.
The wounded included 11 civilians, two of whom were girls aged nine and 11.
The two suicide bombers detonated their white Oldsmobile, packed with 50kg of explosives, outside a police station in the city's Rahimawa neighbourhood as 400 policemen were changing shifts.
The attack coincides with an unannounced visit to Baghdad by the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
Mr Rumsfeld met with the chief US overseer in Iraq and his military commanders over plans to shift security responsibilities to the Iraqis in the face of intensified attacks.
