Twenty dead in north Iraq suicide bomb
Twenty dead in north Iraq suicide bomb
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Sunday, 16, Jul 2006 08:12
More than 20 people are thought to have been killed after a suicide bomber detonated himself in a bustling cafe in northern Iraq this evening.
Scores of people were injured in the blast, which occurred in a popular coffee shop in the majority-Turkmen town of Tuz Khormato, which is 120 miles north of Baghdad.
The town's police chief explained to reporters that the suicide bomber had said he was thirsty and asked for a glass of water moments before the fatal explosion.
The scene of today's suicide bombing overlooks a Shia Muslim mosque, the policeman added, although sectarian tensions between Turkmen, one of Iraq's many ethnic groups, are thought to be less heated than elsewhere in the country.
Medics have warned that the death toll could rise further as rescuers sift through the rubble in the search for survivors.
Earlier in the day a senior oil ministry official was taken hostage in Baghdad, which follows the mass-kidnapping of 30 Olympic committee officials, including the committee chief, yesterday, although six members of the entourage have since been released.