"Surge"? Ha! :"...The first bomb contained an estimated four tons of explosives..."

[Guest Sid9]

July 16, 2007

2 Suicide Car Bombings Kill Scores in Kirkuk

By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

BAGHDAD, July 16 - Two suicide bombers struck the volatile northern city of

Kirkuk this morning, killing 73 people and wounding 178 more, the Kirkuk

police said. One bomb severely damaged a headquarters building of one of the

main Kurdish political parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, but early

reports did not indicate how many of those injured were affiliated with the

party.

 

The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers frantically dig through

concrete and rubble in hopes of finding survivors.

 

The first bomb contained an estimated four tons of explosives , the police

said, and was detonated late this morning just outside the P.U.K. building.

The explosion also destroyed 10 shops and at least 25 cars. The P.U.K.

controls the southeastern portion of Iraqi Kurdistan. The party's leader,

Jalal Talabani, is the president of Iraq.

 

The second blast struck less than an hour later at a busy market in central

Kirkuk within a mile of the first explosion, the police said. A senior Iraqi

police official in Kirkuk confirmed the total casualty numbers for both

blasts but he did not break down the number of deaths and injuries caused by

each attack.

 

The attacks come amid increasing ethnic tensions in Kirkuk, an oil-rich city

150 miles north of Baghdad and 60 miles west of Sulaymaniyah, the largest

city in the P.U.K.-controlled region of Kurdistan. Kurds have aggressively

moved into Kirkuk since the 2003 invasion, angering Turkmen and Arab

residents who feel they are being driven out.

 

Under Saddam Hussein, the government resettled many Arabs to the city. But

the Kurds firmly believe that Kirkuk belongs in Kurdistan, the autonomous

northern region that has its own security and is in many ways almost a

separate country from the rest of Iraq.

 

The Kurds have made officially reclaiming Kirkuk a top political priority. A

referendum is scheduled for later this year on whether or not Kirkuk should

join the Kurdistan Regional Government.