Terror attack in Kurdish capital of Iraq carried out by female suicide bomber

ERBIL, Iraq, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A female suicide bomber may have been responsible for a car bombing in the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region that killed five people Wednesday.

The attack occurred at 12:00 p.m. at the gate outside the governor's office in Erbil when an explosives-laden car attempted to enter the compound but was denied entry by local security guards.

Five people, including four policemen, were killed and 29 others injured in the attack.

An injured eyewitness told Kurdish news site Rudaw the bomber appeared female. "I saw a woman in black headscarf who had parked her Honda car on the wrong lane of the street, she moved a little forward and the explosion happened."

Women's shoes were reportedly visible in video footage of the bomb site.

"The security and anti-terror forces are investigating the attack to determine the identity of the bomber and those behind it," said Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman Safeen Dizayee.

Erbil Governor Nawzad Hadi blamed the attack on the Islamic State.

While terror attacks have become common place in other areas of Iraq, the Kurdistan region has largely been spared.

"Such incidents are rare and indeed tragic," the KRG said in a statement Wednesday. Residents were urged "'to remain steadfast in their high level of shared vigilance and responsibility for security."

On Tuesday, KRG officials met with U.S. Congressional members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. KRG President Masoud Barzani's chief of staff, Fuad Hussein, said at a meeting with Rep. Ed Royce (R-Ca.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "The fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is one that will last many years and will only be won by a partnership between the Kurdish Peshmerga Forces and the rest of the world."