17 killed by Iraq police station bombing

Twin bombs that appeared timed to lure policemen from behind their protected compound have killed 17 people in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Kirkuk police Captain Abdul Salam Zangana said 53 people were wounded in the blasts, the second of which exploded as police officers rushed outside to investigate the first.

Capt Zangana said most of the dead were police officers.

The blast heavily damaged the police headquarters in central Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad.

The city has been an ethnic flashpoint for years among Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen who each claim the oil-rich city as their own.