Suicide bomber kills 10 in Iraq's Kirkuk

A suicide bomber killed ten people in Iraq's Kirkuk on Wednesday after he detonated his explosive-packed truck outside a Kurdish party office in the city caught in a dispute between Baghdad and the country's autonomous Kurdistan, officials said.   

Passersby and police helped carry bloodied wounded out of the rubble and wrecked vehicles after the huge blast tore through a commercial street in Kirkuk near the local headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party or KDP.  

"A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives detonated the vehicles outside the KDP headquarters. It's a crowded area, dozens were killed and wounded, Police Brigadier Sarhat Qadir told Reuters.   

Siddiq Omar, a local Kirkuk health official, said at least 10 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded.   

Another two people died and 20 more were wounded in another bombing outside a rival political party office in Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of the capital.   

The attacks came before Iraq's Arab-led central government planned talks with officials from the Kurdistan enclave to ease tensions over disputed oilfields and areas like Kirkuk where they both claim jurisdiction.


REUTERS