A car bomb exploded on Wednesday in the northern Iraqi tinderbox town of Mosul, killing three soldiers and wounding 10 other people, a police official told AFP.

"A car bomb targeted their patrol in the Al-Shafa neighborhood in the centre of Mosul," he said.

The car was parked outside the medical college of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city and one of the most restive.

Two soldiers were among the wounded, the official added.

The US army says Mosul, which has a fractious mix of Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Christians, is the last urban bastion of al-Qaeda militants in the country.

A car bomb also exploded near a primary school in the centre of the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing one and injuring 11, among them three children, police said.

The blast occurred on a central avenue during afternoon rush-hour so as to cause maximum casualties and blew out school windows and damaged nearby shops, police said.

AFP