Terrorist attacks hit on Wednesday Baghdad and north of the capital leaving at least 23 people dead and over 200 others wounded.

Terrorist attacks hit on Wednesday Baghdad and north of the capital leaving at least 23 people dead and over 200 others wounded.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks that struck Kirkuk, 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of Baghdad, where two car bombs in the same neighbourhood killed at least 16 people and wounded 190 others, according to provincial health chief Sadiq Omar Rasul.

“Both explosions inflicted massive destruction," said police Brigadier General Sarhad Qader.

"Our forces are still trying to remove corpses from the rubble,” he added.

The first blast was detonated by a suicide attacker and appeared to target a compound housing local offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

A second car bomb parked on the side of a road nearby detonated shortly thereafter.

Qader said six members of Iraq's security forces were killed and 10 others wounded in the two blasts.

Another suicide car bombing in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, also north of Baghdad, killed two people and wounded 34 others.

In Baghdad three separate attacks left five people dead, officials said.