IRAQ: Truck bomb kills 12 in Iraq's Arbil

Record ID: 352216

  • Title: IRAQ: Truck bomb kills 12 in Iraq's Arbil
  • Date: 9th May 2007
  • Summary: ANOTHER WOUNDED MAN BEING LED BY TWO SOLDIERS
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA78PL0P57STE36PSMI1VS4LDHY
  • Story Text: A bomb blast in the Northern Iraqi city of Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, kills 12 and wounds 40. A truck bomb killed 12 people and wounded 40 in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on Wednesday (May 9) in one of the few bomb attacks in the relatively peaceful Kurdish region since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
    First Lieutenant Mariwan Kareem, from the local security forces, said the blast was caused by a truck packed with explosives and covered with kitchen cleaning products that were apparently intended to hide the payload.
    Kareem put the death toll at 12, with 40 wounded.
    "We were sitting inside our room early in the morning when a blast took place. The wall of the room fell dawn on us. We went outside to check and we saw smoke covering the area, glass shrapnel were flying everywhere and people were shocked. Smoke was covering the area." said Shakhawan, an Iraqi soldier.
    The bomb in central Arbil, capital of Kurdistan, went off near the Kurdish government's interior ministry, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.
    Television images showed Kurdish soldiers and police pulling wounded people from the rubble of a collapsed building. The explosion at around 8 a.m. left a massive crater in the road, damaged vehicles, blew out windows and caused partial damage to some other buildings.
    Bomb attacks are extremely rare in Iraq's autonomous oil-rich Kurdish region, unlike the rest of the country which is engulfed by violence.
    The attack comes at a time of political tension for ethnic Kurds, who are part of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national government and staunch allies of the United States.
    Some Kurdish politicians have expressed deep reservations over a landmark oil draft law that would distribute Iraq's vast oil wealth among the country's warring sects and groups.
    Kurds are also pushing to hold a referendum on the final status of Kirkuk, an oil-producing city outside Kurdistan that is also claimed by Arabs.
    Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein and now are the backbone of an insurgency fighting U.S. troops and the government in Baghdad, view Kurdish nationalism with mistrust.
    A suicide bomber killed more than 60 people at the Kurdistan Democratic Party office in Arbil in May 2005 in an attack that was claimed by a militant Sunni Arab group. That was the last bomb attack in the Kurdish region that residents can recall.
    Just last month, officials said the Kurdish regional government and a Dubai firm would build a $400 million "media city" in Arbil in the hope of luring international media groups to the more stable north.
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