In Iraq, at least 41 people have been killed after gunmen stormed a council building in northern Iraq and took dozens of hostages. According to official sources, security forces laid siege to the building in Tikrit for several hours before moving in. Several council members and a journalist are said to be among the dead and scores more are reported wounded. Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, has been a bastion of a Sunni insurgency. Officials said gunmen dressed in military uniform stormed the provincial council building after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside. It is not clear how many of the dead are hostages and how many are their captors.A curfew has been imposed over Tikrit.