A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the police academy in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Saturday as hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing at least 20 people and wounding 36, authorities said.

Ambulances raced to the scene, where seven cars were on fire. Rescue personnel ferried the wounded away on stretchers. Some of the injured lay sprawled on the building's steps.

"This is a terrorist act against members of Iraqi police who were heading to their homes," said Kirkuk police Col. Sarhat Qadir.

Iraqi police sealed off roads leading to blast site. Iraqi police fired warning shots into the air to disperse weeping and frustrated people racing to the area to learn the fate of their relatives.

Militants waging a 16-month-old insurgency in Iraq have used car bombings, sabotage and kidnappings in an effort to destabilize the country and drive out coalition forces and reconstruction workers.

(China Daily via agencies September 5, 2004)