Tens of thousands of trapped Iraqi civilians are running out of food and medicine in the western city of Falluja, an Islamic State (IS) stronghold under siege by security forces, according to local officials and residents.

A triple suicide bombing has killed 26 members of Kurdish security forces north east of Baghdad while a roadside bomb killed the police chief of the western Anbar province.

A series of car bombs exploded across Iraq’s capital tonight, killing at least 52 people in a day of violence that saw militants storm a university in the country’s restive Anbar province and take dozens hostage, authorities said.

Iraqi security forces today battled gunmen who detonated a car bomb before blasting their way into a government compound and killing seven policemen.