10 killed in militants attacks in Iraq's Kirkuk

At least 10 people were killed and some 75 wounded in Wednesday's coordinated attacks on police headquarters and a hostage-taken attack at an adjacent shopping mall in the oil-hub city of Kirkuk, police and medics said on Thursday.

"The reports from Kirkuk hospitals said that they have received 10 bodies of security members and civilians, and that 75 people were admitted for treatment, many were in critical condition," a source from Kirkuk's health office told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, the attacks occurred at about 1:30 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) when a suicide car bomber blew up his explosive- laden car near a police intelligence office in Kirkuk, about 250 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and was followed by two others wearing explosive vests who tried to seize the building of the office, the source said.

The guards of the building opened fire on the attackers forcing them to blow themselves up, while other gunmen fought fierce clashes with the security forces and reinforcement troops who arrived to the scene, the source added.

On Thursday morning, a local police source told Xinhua that the attackers apparently failed to seize the police building, and at least three of them resort to a nearby shopping mall, holding 11 people hostage inside the five-story Jawahir Mall for more than 10 hours, he said.

A counter-terrorism special force came from the city of Sulaimaniyah in Kurdistan region to help ending the hostage-taking crisis, the source said.

The battle between the troops and gunmen continued for about 12 hours when the gunmen were killed, leaving large part of the building destroyed and burned, the source added.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, almost 7, 650 Iraqis were killed and over 17,370 others injured from January to November this year.