The blast in the village of Wardek, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, seemed calculated to fan ethnic tensions between Kurds and Arabs, whose politicians are embroiled in a bitter dispute over claims to territory and oil.

Women and children were among the dead and many houses were destroyed, police said.

Another truck bomber tried to set off a second blast in the village but local Kurdish Peshmerga forces opened fire and killed him before he reached its outskirts, Iraqi police said.

US officials say insurgents are increasingly seeking ways to attack Kurds in ethnically mixed parts of northern Iraq in a bid to foment ethnic violence between them and Arabs at a time of rising tensions over land disputes.

Earlier, a car bomb killed eight members of a single Arab family and leveled at least one house in Kirkuk, the city at the heart of the row between Arabs and minority Kurds.