Irbil — A suicide car bomber struck the U.S. intelligence headquarters here, a Kurdish security official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

He said three Iraqis were killed, including a 12-year-old boy.

Six Americans were wounded, three of them with serious injuries to their abdomen caused by flying glass.

The official said 41 Iraqis were hurt, adding that the suicide bomb vehicle was packed with TNT.

He said several homes in the neighbourhood, which was cordoned off by U.S. soldiers, were destroyed.

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U.S. soldiers had flown to the site by helicopter and were guarding the area together with local Iraqi Kurdish fighters.
The wounded included children from nearby houses and Iraqi Kurdish guards.

Irbil is the largest city in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Shane Slaughter, U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said that the six injured Americans were Department of Defence personnel.