Up to 11 security members were killed and 19 people wounded Monday in a suicide car bomb attack in central the city of Tikrit, the capital of Salahudin Province, a provincial police source said.

"Our latest reports said that nine soldiers and two policemen were killed by the attack and 19 people wounded, most of them security members," the source from Salahudin's Operations Command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place in the morning when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into the checkpoint at the entrance of the presidential compound of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussien, and blew it up, the source said.

Colonel Nuri al-Mashhadani, Commander of the 1st Brigade of the Iraqi Army's 4th Division, stationed in Tikrit, was among the killed by the powerful blast in the city that located some 170 km north of Baghdad, the source added.

Earlier, the source put the toll at three killed and 14 wounded.

Salahudin province, located in northern central of Iraq, is mainly Sunni province. Its capital city of Tikrit is the hometown of former President Saddam Hussien.

The attacks are part of wave of violence against Iraq's government officials, security forces and civilians during the past few months.

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