A 10-year child was also seriously wounded in the uprecedented strike on the camp in Kirkuk's northeastern Azadi neighbourhood, the city's police chief, General Turhan Yussef, told AFP.

Dr Mustafa Azad Ali of the Azadi hospital confirmed the casualty toll.

The dead were among more than 14,000 Kurds who have returned to Kirkuk since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein last year and the ending of his regime's policy of resettling the once mainly Kurdish city with Arabs.

The municipal official responsible for the returnees, Hassib Rozbiyani, blamed the attack on "enemies of the Kurdish cause".

But he insisted it would not weaken Kurdish determination to see families expelled under Saddam's regime returned to the city, as foreseen by Article 58 of the interim constitution adopted under the US-led occupation.

The attack came on the second day of campaigning for landmark January 30 polls that will not only elect a national assembly, but also 18 provincial councils and a Kurdish regional parliament for the three formerly rebel-held provinces that are already autonomous.

Kurdish politicians in Kirkuk have been demanding postponement of the election of a provincial council until the city's future status has been resolved.

They want the city incorporated into their autonomous region as its capital, as well as a share of its oil wealth.

But Arabs in the city are opposed to any change, as are many in its large Turkmen community, who have the support of neighbouring Turkey.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.