A bomb has exploded in a house in central Diyala province being raided for gunmen by the Iraqi military, killing eight soldiers.

Armed men lured the soldiers into a booby-trapped house following clashes at a security checkpoint, Captain Mohanned Ibrahim, an army officer, told the AFP news agency.

Wednesday's blast, which wounded four other soldiers, occurred at around 5:00am (02:00 GMT) in the town of Saadiyah, 100km northeast of Baghdad.

Ambush

"After clashes that lasted about 15 minutes [at a security checkpoint], the gunmen fled, and the army chased them in order to arrest them," Ibrahim said.

"The gunmen entered one of the houses close to the checkpoint, and the army followed them. The house then collapsed because of a bomb. The gunmen escaped through a back door."

Three other bodies were found under the rubble, but it was not immediately clear if they were of gunmen or civilians, he added.

A police source said the soldiers had entered the house acting on a tip that hostages from kidnappings were held inside.

Overall, violence in Iraq has ebbed since the peak of sectarian warfare four years ago but bombings and other attacks occur frequently.

Tensions have been steadily rising since a March 7 parliamentary election produced no clear winner.