At least 17 people were killed and 25 wounded when a truck bomb exploded overnight in a Kurdish village southeast of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a police officer said today.

The truck exploded just after midnight (0230 GMT) in the village of Wardak, Captain Mohammed Jalal told AFP, adding that it was a suicide attack. A second suicide attack was foiled when the driver was killed by Iraqi security forces before he could trigger the explosives in his truck, said Jalal.