Gunmen broke into the city council of Samarra in Iraq's Salahudin province after detonating a car bomb at the entrance.
The attack occurred Tuesday morning when gunmen wearing explosive vests attacked the city council building in Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, after fierce clashes with the guards, a provincial police source told Xinhua.
The gunmen apparently took a number of workers and civilians hostages inside the building, the source said, adding that there was no immediate report about casualties.
Reinforcements surrounded the city council and were preparing to storm the building, the source said.