Co-ordinated attack in Iraq kills 5 police

Five police officers are dead after a co-ordinated suicide bomb attack in central Iraq.

A co-ordinated attack involving two suicide bombers and several gunmen has killed five policemen in a former al-Qaeda stronghold in Iraq.

A police officer says one bomber detonated his explosives-laden belt at the main checkpoint outside police headquarters in the central city of Fallujah on Monday morning.

The second bomber blew himself up near the building gates as security forces engaged in a shootout with the gunmen, who later fled the scene.

The attack also wounded nine policemen.

A medical official confirmed the causalty figures.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold, is 65 kilometres west of Baghdad.