Up to 30 killed in suicide attack on Iraqi police headquarters - Telegraph.co.uk

^{Iraqi rescuers and firefighters work at the scene after the car bombing in Kirkuk (AFP/Getty Images)}

Kosrat Hassan Karim, who witnessed the assault, said: "I saw a vehicle stop at the checkpoint at the main entrance, and the police started checking it.

"Suddenly, a loud explosion happened, it was terrifying.

"I saw many people killed inside their cars - I have never seen such a big explosion in my life."

^{Iraqi rescuers at the scene after the car bombing in Kirkuk (AFP/Getty Images)}

People were also killed in nearby buildings and the explosion caused widespread devastation.

Among those wounded was Brigadier General Sarhad Qader, police commander for areas surrounding the city.

"It seems they came to free prisoners, because they came in a very organised way," he said from hospital. "But the police clashed with them, and we killed all of them."

^{The scene after the car bombing in Kirkuk (AFP/Getty Images)}

Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city 150 miles north of Baghdad, lies in a swathe of territory claimed by both the central government and Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region.

The unresolved row is persistently cited by diplomats and officials as the biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability.

Militants often exploit a lack of coordination between the two sides' security forces and launch deadly attacks in the city, which remains one of the most violent in Iraq.