Five people have been wounded as the result of a bomb attack in the city of Sulaymaniyah in South Kurdistan.

Four police officers and a civilian were seriously injured when a bomb left in a rubbish bin exploded in the Sinjar neighbourhood of Sulaymaniyah on the evening of 20 December.

Security sources in the city said groups linked to Al Qaeda had carried out the attack, and that one Al Qaeda leader had been arrested.

Security forces in the Federal Kurdistan region said that according to tip-offs they had received Al Qaeda is preparing a series of attacks in Sulaymaniyah on New Year's Eve.

The security services said they suspected Kurds who had gone from South Kurdistan to Syria and joined Al Qaeda were behind the bombing.

On 2 December two simultaneous attacks on the security forces wounded two security officers in Sulaymaniyah.