KIRKUK, Iraq, May 19, 2011 (Xinhua) --

 Up to 25 people were killed and some 70 others wounded when a bomb and a car bomb exploded coordinately in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk on Thursday, a local police source told Xinhua.

"Our latest report said that 25 people were killed and some 70 wounded by the double blasts in Kirkuk," the source said on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place in the morning rush hours when a sticky bomb attached to a car detonated at a parking lot in front of a police headquarters in central the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, the source said.

Afterwards, a booby-trapped car parked at the scene went off as Iraqi security forces and dozens of onlookers gathered at the site of the first blast, the source added.

The powerful car bomb explosion destroyed parts of the police headquarters, the source said, adding that many of the killed and wounded were policemen.

"Five of the killed were police officers, including Major Ibraim Hazim, the secretary of the Kirkuk's police chief," the source said.

Earlier, the source put the toll at 12 killed and 50 wounded by the blasts.

The oil-rich Kirkuk province and its capital Kirkuk City are part of disputed areas between the Kurds and both Arabs and Turkomans. The area has long been the hotbed of insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Police chief escapes car bomb attack in Iraq's Kirkuk, 4 bodyguards killed

KIRKUK, Iraq, May 19, 2011 (Xinhua) --

A police chief escaped a car bomb explosion near his convoy in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk on Thursday, killing four of his bodyguards, a local police source said.

Colonel Aras Mohammed, head of counter-terrorism department of Kirkuk province, survived unharmed the blast that targeted his convoy in central Kirkuk, the capital city of Kirkuk province, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The blast struck one of the convoy's vehicles, setting it on fire and killing four of Mohammed's bodyguards aboard, the source said.

Kirkuk has been the scene of coordinated bomb and car bomb explosions near a police headquarters in central the city, killing at least 25 people and wounding some 70 others, most of the victims were policemen.

The attacks in the city came a day after the Iraqi security forces carried operations resulted in the capturing of six suspected al-Qaida militants, including Mohammed Adel Amin, who believed to be the provincial leader of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, the al-Qaida front in the country.

The oil-rich Kirkuk province and its capital Kirkuk City are part of disputed areas between the Kurds and both Arabs and Turkomans. The area has long been the hotbed of insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.