The Hindu : International : 50 killed as militants target Kurdish city

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Thursday, May 05, 2005

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International

50 killed as militants target Kurdish city

Atul Aneja

Flurry of bombings since partial Cabinet line-up was announced

— PHOTO: AP

VICTIM OF VIOLENCE: A man who was wounded after his car was hit by a roadside bomb near the airport in Baghdad on Wednesday, being comforted by a nurse and his wife at a hospital in the city.

MANAMA: At least 50 persons have been killed in a suicide bombing in northern Iraq's Kurdish city of Irbil, signalling the ability of the guerillas battling American occupation to target far-flung areas of the country.

The attack came less than 24 hours after a new Iraqi government was sworn in.

The blast in Irbil, which is nearly 350 km away from Baghdad, took place when young men were queuing up outside the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which also doubled as a police recruitment centre.

Television pictures showed pools of blood splattered on the street, as ambulances and taxis carried victims to local hospitals. Eyewitnesses said pick-up trucks were used for ferrying piles of bodies.

"A suicide bomber entered the recruiting centre and blew himself up," Irbil Governor Nawzad Hadi was quoted as saying.

Surge in violence

There has been a flurry of bombings and other violent incidents since April 28 — the day when Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari revealed a partial Cabinet line-up, dominated by Shias and Kurds. Over 200 persons have been killed in the recent surge in violence, amid negotiations where Shias and Kurds have been trying to work out a power sharing deal with the Sunnis in the Government.

Iraqi Sunnis, comprising nearly 20 per cent of the population of 27 million are believed to be spearheading the resistance against the two-year old U.S. occupation. The attack comes close on the heels of another blast, which also targeted Kurds.

Nearly 25 persons were killed in Talafar on Sunday when a suicide bomber struck at inside a tent where people had assembled for the funeral of a slain KDP official. The strike in Irbil appeared to be the deadliest in Iraq since February 28, when a suicide car bomber targeted a crowd of police and national guard recruits outside a medical clinic in Hillah, killing 110 persons and wounding 133. The attack appeared to be the deadliest by militants in Iraq since February 28, when a suicide car bomber struck a crowd of police and national guard recruits outside a medical clinic in Hillah, killing 110 people and wounding 133.

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