At least 25 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a police station in Iraq's central town of Dujail, officials have said.

Another 40 people were also wounded in the attack on Friday.

Police said the bombing occurred just before dusk, when many people were on the streets before the breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

They said casualties were a mix of civilians shopping at a nearby market as well as police.

The Dujail attack was one of the deadliest in Iraq in recent months and comes at a time when the violence in Iraq is at a four-year low.

The last major suicide attack occurred on August 26, when a  bomber thwarted a security checkpoint in Jalawla, a police recruiting centre, and blew himself up, killing at least 25 people.

Dujail is a mainly Shia town in the Sunni province of Salaheddin, north of Baghdad.