Baghdad, Nov 19 (IANS/EFE) At least five people were killed and 11 others wounded Wednesday in a car bomb suicide attack in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, security sources told Efe news agency.

The attack targeted Erbil’s municipal government headquarters, which had been spared until now despite the offensive that Islamic State (IS) militants have unleashed in nearby areas of northern Iraq in recent months.

A terrorist tried to ram into the building with his explosives-packed car, but the guards opened fire and detonated the car bomb before it reached its target, according to the same sources.

Three guards and two civilians died in the blast, while some 10 vehicles were destroyed and several nearby buildings damaged.

The sources explained that the security forces were surrounding the site for fear of further attacks and said they did not rule out more fatalities from Wednesday’s attack as some of those injured were in serious condition.

The Kurdish troops or Peshmerga are currently battling the radical jihadis of the IS who are trying to expand areas under their control in northern Iraq with the aim of uniting conquered territory in Syria and Iraq into an Islamic caliphate.