Kirkuk bombing 'kills 23'
Kirkuk is located in the north-east of Iraq
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Sunday, 17, Sep 2006 07:32
Up to 23 people have died and 65 are injured following bomb attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
Kurdish party buildings in the provincial capital were targeted in the attacks, which saw a truck bomb drive up to the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party before exploding.
Four additional car bomb attacks took place, one of which killed large numbers of police at the city's investigation bureau, according to media reports.
Agencies are also reporting that the other major political party in Kirkuk, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was also targeted.
Instability in Kirkuk has been growing in recent weeks, despite the city having avoided much of the growing sectarian violence which has blighted much of the rest of Iraq since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled by coalition forces in 2003.
Today's bombing is the latest in a series of rising tensions between Sunni Arabs and the Kurdish authorities, who dispute leadership over the city.
Iraq's current president, Jalal Talabani, is a member of the PUK party whose headquarters were targeted today. His prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, had been forced to intervene following the hanging of a massive Kurdistani flag was displayed from the regional government's main building in the city.