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| IS has carried out a number of attacks in Tikrit since being driven out the city two years ago |
More than 30 people have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamic State militants in the Iraqi city of Tikrit.
At least two of them detonated suicide belts during clashes with police, which could still be heard after sunrise. No group has claimed it was behind the assault, but IS has launched a number of similar attacks in recent months.
It also comes as government forces continue an offensive to retake Mosul, 185km (115 miles) to the north, the last major IS stronghold in Iraq.
Police Colonel Khalid Mahmoud told Reuters news agency that about 10 militants dressed in police uniforms were involved in Tuesday night's attack.
Col Mahmoud said the militants initially targeted a police checkpoint and the home of a senior officer nearby, killing him and members of his family.
Two of the militants blew themselves up when surrounded by police, and three others were killed in separate clashes, he added.
Col Mahmoud said five other militants were thought to be hiding and that the local authorities had declared a curfew until they were apprehended.
A doctor at the city's hospital told the BBC that 34 people had been killed and 46 others wounded, many of them civilians.
Tikrit, a predominantly Sunni Arab city, was captured by IS militants when they overran much of northern and western Iraq in June 2014. Troops and Iranian-backed Shia paramilitary fighters retook the city in April 2015.