A suicide car bomber has rammed his vehicle into a Kurdish security patrol in northern Iraq, killing eight, The Associated Press reported.

Col. Hussein Ali Rasheed, who is police chief of Tuz Khormato, said the bomber struck Sunday, July 28 morning as the patrol was passing through the ethnically-mixed town. He says five more were wounded.

Tuz Khormato sits in territory contested by Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Baghdad. Iraq's Kurdish self-rule zone maintains its own security forces.

The attack comes amid an increase in violence that is raising fears of a return to the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. More than 3,000 have died since April.