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.

The attacks 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 be targeted against the US-led occupation.

In Kirkuk, around 250 km 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.

?I am 100 percent sure it was a suicide bombing,? said police officer Shwan Majid Karim.

Hospital officials put the death toll at four plus the bomber, whose remains were brought to the hospital in a bag. They said the toll could rise as body fragments were still being found strewn across a town square. More than 30 people were wounded.

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

Witnesses said it was also a suicide attack but that could not be confirmed by police. ?A car filled with explosives came fast. The driver blew himself up inside the car,? a resident living nearby said.

The Ramadi strike was one of a string of attacks 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 in the space of a few hours, witnesses said.

In Kirkuk, local PUK leader Jalal Jawhar said he believed his office was the target of the attack.