IRAQ: Kirkuk trade minister targetted in car bomb attack in Iraq and U.S. tank set ablaze in Baghdad on Sunday.

Record ID: 354925

  • Title: IRAQ: Kirkuk trade minister targetted in car bomb attack in Iraq and U.S. tank set ablaze in Baghdad on Sunday.
  • Date: 25th December 2005
  • Summary: WIDE OF FIREMEN EXTINGUISHING FIRE
  • Embargoed: 9th January 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA2NG89WUMJZI70XKVE1R05VBHO
  • Story Text: An senior Iraqi official in the Ministry of Trade in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk survived an assassination attempt on Sunday (December 25), police said.
    Police said a car bomb parked on the side of the road exploded as the vehicle of Karam al-Jaf, director of Foodstuff Department of the Ministry of Trade was driving on Kirkuk-Baghdad road south of Kirkuk, wounding him and two policemen.
    Five civilians were also wounded in the attack.
    "A car bomb parked on the side of the road near Haja Sabriya Mosque exploded this morning. The attack damaged a civilian car and a Taxi and wounded a number of innocent civilians and were moved to hospital. It is a terrorist act," said Brigadier Burhan Taib Taha , police chief of Kirkuk city.
    Kirkuk, about 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad where Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen ethnic groups have staked competing claims to the capital of the big northern oilfield, has seen a site of frequent attacks.
    In Baghdad on Sunday (December 25) a U.S. tank was set ablaze after being struck by a roadside bomb in the east of the city.
    The tank was engulfed in fire at Camp Sara as fire-fighters battled the flames.
    A U.S. helicopter could be seen flying overhead. There was no immediate word on casualties.
    There has been an increase in shootings and bombings after the election period lull.
    Ten Iraqi soldiers were killed in an attack on their post on Friday (December 23) and a suicide bomber attacked a Shi'ite mosque.
    On Saturday (December 24) at least nine Iraqis were killed and police found seven bodies riddled with bullet wounds in southern Baghdad.
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