Car bombs hit Iraq

A suicide car bomber killed at least four people in an attack near the offices of a leading Kurdish party in northern Iraq yesterday, hours after two others were killed in a car bombing west of Baghdad.

US President George W. Bush said Washington could increase the number of American troops in Iraq if necessary, but officials said there was no sign that more were needed for now.

"We will finish the job we have begun," Bush said during a state visit to Britain. "We will match the security needs with the number of troops necessary to secure Iraq."

The bombings near the Kirkuk offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) - whose leader is currently head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council - and a US-backed local council appeared to target the American-led occupation.

In Kirkuk, about 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, a huge explosion threw up a cloud of black smoke, shaking buildings across town. The blast flattened a wall around the green-painted headquarters of the PUK and shattered windows at a nearby primary school, wounding several children. Witnesses to the attack were wounded or killed and it was not clear exactly what happened.

"I was walking in the street when a car exploded," said Hussein Ali, 52. "I didn't know if it was night or day."

Hospital officials put the death toll at four plus the bomber, whose remains were brought to the hospital in a bag. Nearly 40 people were wounded.

On Wednesday night, a car bomb blast struck near the offices of a the local council in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Local officials said two people were killed and 11 were wounded, including the council leader.

Witnesses said it was also a suicide attack. "A car filled with explosives came fast. The driver blew himself up inside the car," a resident living nearby said.

The strike was one of a string of attacks late on Wednesday on targets linked to the US-led occupation in the flashpoint town. A tribal leader known for cooperating with the Americans was killed and a police chief's son was wounded.