Iraq violence: 'Many dead' in Kirkuk police HQ attack

At least 16 people have been killed as suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a police HQ in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, medical sources say.

Officials said militants had tried to seize the compound after a bomb exploded at the gates, but were unsuccessful. A police chief was hurt.

No group has said it carried out the attack.

Kirkuk is ethnically mixed, and at the centre of a dispute between Baghdad and the Kurds over oil and land rights.

Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence in Iraq.

However, there has been a relative calm in recent days.