Nine killed in militant attack on Iraqi police station

At least nine people have been killed after militants attacked a police station in an Iraqi village north of Baghdad.

The attack started at dawn with a suicide car bomber hitting the blast walls that surround the police station in the village of al-Salman outside the town of Tarmiyah, a police officer said. An assault by armed militants then followed.

The attack killed five police officers and four civilians, leaving 11 other people wounded.

Tarmiyah is about 50km north of Baghdad.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Iraqi forces, backed by US-led airstrikes, are fighting the extremist Islamic State group, which now controls about a third of the country.

The attack came a day after a string of bombings targeting Shia areas around Baghdad killed 10 people amid tight security measures to protect pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala to attend the religious commemoration known as Arbaeen.

The event, which draws hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims, marks the passing of 40 days after the anniversary of the seventh century martyrdom of the revered Shia saint Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.