One dead, five wounded in car bombing near U.S. consulate in Iraq

By Isabel Coles ERBIL (Reuters) - A car bomb killed three people on Friday outside the U.S. consulate in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, a ally of Washington in the war against Islamic State, which claimed the attack. No U.S. personnel were hurt in the blast, according to the U.S. State Department, which said a "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device" exploded right outside the entrance to the heavily fortified compound. Kurdistan is an important partner for the U.S.-led coalition in its campaign to "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State group, which overran large parts of Iraq last summer and threatened to reach Erbil.

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