A suicide car bomber has killed 20 traffic policemen outside their headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, and wounded about 100 more, police and hospital officials said.

The bomber, wearing a police uniform, slammed his car into a gathering of some 200 traffic policemen in a courtyard behind the headquarters at 8am (0400 GMT), police Lieutenant Sulaiman Mohammed said. The local hospital confirmed the toll of dead and wounded.

The attack occurred on a main street that leads south to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Irbil is one of two major cities in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, which has enjoyed autonomous rule since 1991 under Western protection. The area has been largely sheltered from the incessant violence wracking the remainder of Iraq, but has seen several major bombings blamed on militant Muslim groups.

The bombing came a day after Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said there are many relatively stable areas in Iraq, such as Irbil and Basra in southern Iraq.

Iraq’s Kurds make up 15-20 percent of Iraq’s estimated 26 million people. The community had been oppressed for decades by Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority, but has been empowered since Saddam Hussein was deposed two years ago. Iraq’s new president, Jalal Talabani, is a Kurd.

The attack came amid a surge in violence since the Shia-led government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was announced on April 28. At least 1,182 people have been killed since then. Yesterday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a popular Baghdad restaurant, killing 23 people, including policemen.

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