Five Iraqis, US soldier killed in violence
Source: AFP
KIRKUK, Iraq — Attacks killed five Iraqis, including three who died
when a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-packed truck in the northern
city of Kirkuk, and an American soldier on Thursday, officials said.
In
the deadliest attack, blamed on Al-Qaeda, two women and a man were
killed and 76 others were wounded by a truck bomb in front of a bank in
Kirkuk as policemen collected their monthly salaries.
The hurt
included 26 policemen, more than 20 employees of the targeted bank as
well as surrounding offices, and the rest were civilians, according to
Kirkuk provincial health director Sadiq Omar Rasul.
"Al-Qaeda is
trying to send a message that they are there," said provincial police
chief Major General Jamal Taher Bakr. "They are trying to ignite
sectarianism between Kirkuk's communities."
An AFP correspondent
at the scene said the blast caused massive damage to the bank and
surrounding buildings. Several police vehicles were ablaze, and access
to the bank was blocked.
Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said
provincial security forces were responsible for a "dangerous violation
of security," and called for a full investigation into the attack.
Iraq's
northern Kurdish region wants to incorporate Kirkuk province, which is
ethnically mixed and rich in energy, into its autonomous three
provinces, a move strongly opposed by the authorities in Baghdad.
In northern Iraq, an American soldier was killed, the first such death in the country in more than two months.
"A US service member was killed Thursday in northern Iraq," a brief US army statement said. It gave no further details.
The last US soldier to be killed in Iraq died on July 15 in the southern province of Basra, according to independent website www.icasualties.org. Three American soldiers have died since then, but all in "non-hostile" incidents.
Thursday's
death brings to 4,477 the number of American soldiers to have died in
Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country, according to an AFP
tally based on data compiled by icasualties.org.
An
Iraqi policeman was also gunned down in Baghdad on Thursday, while a
soldier was killed and two others wounded by a mortar attack against an
Iraqi military base in Tarmiyah, just north of the capital, according to
police and an interior ministry official.
Violence is down
nationwide since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A
total of 239 people were killed in violence in Iraq in August,
according to official figures.
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