Car bomb kills 30 in northern Iraq - police

BAGHDAD, May 13 (Reuters) A car bomb near the office of a leading Kurdish party in northern Iraq killed 30 people and wounded 50 others today, police said.

The blast took place near the local office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Makhmour, a town near the Kurdish city of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Colonel Abdul Qadir al Harky, the head of police in Makhmour, said there were many bodies under the rubble and he expected the death toll to rise.

''The bomb hit area with several government offices,'' he said. Other security sources said that the KDP were having a local meeting at the time of the attack.

At least 15 people were killed and 100 wounded when a truck bomb exploded near the Kurdish interior ministry in Arbil last week.

REUTERS DS KP1545