Eight people were killed and 40 others wounded when a suicide car bomber hit Iraqi army and U.S. patrols in Iraq's northeastern city of Kirkuk on Thursday, a provincial police source said.

"A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car against three Iraqi army vehicles which are parking near the Bab al-Aswad Bank, killing eight people and wounding up to 40 others," the Brigadier Burhan Taha Wasif told Xinhua by telephone.

The blast also badly damaged the bank building along with nearby buildings and several civilian cars, Wasif said.

In addition, Wasif noted that another suicide bomber drove his explosive-packed car into a U.S. patrol near the Maqdad police station in downtown Kirkuk, but there was no word on casualties as the U.S. soldiers cordoned off the area preventing the Iraqi police from approaching the scene.

The insurgents obviously stepped up the attacks on Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers in the past few days as up to 10 U.S. servicemen were killed on Tuesday only.

Source: Xinhua