IRAQ: Car bomb in Iraq's Kirkuk kills 11

Record ID: 354951

  • Title: IRAQ: Car bomb in Iraq's Kirkuk kills 11
  • Date: 25th May 2014
  • Summary: DEBRIS / BROKEN ALCOHOL BOTTLES STAINED BY BLOOD ON GROUND
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA7CLCOM8O57YCSS4E8VFM948LB
  • Story Text: A car bomb went off outside an alcohol store in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Saturday (May 24) night, killing at least eleven people, police and hospital said.
    A further 27 people were also wounded in the attack that took place in the city's al-Wassiti neighbourhood, the blast damaged a number of shops and burned out several cars.
    Kirkuk, some 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad is a multi-ethnic city of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen is at the heart of a dispute between Iraq's central government and the autonomous Kurdistan region.
    Speaking to Reuters, one resident of the neighbourhood expressed his frustration at the violence in Iraq.
    "A car bomb went off here yesterday, killing many people. There is no security. Each day there is an attack, where shall we go?," Mohammed said.
    Even though many Iraqis shun alcohol, forbidden under Islamic law, the country is a generally less conservative Muslim society than neighbours such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, thanks to its mix of Shi'ites, Sunnis, ethnic Kurds and Christians.
    Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein allowed shops to sell alcohol legally, although bars and nightclubs were banned towards the end of his rule. Shops with licences that are still valid can sell alcohol now but there are also illegal outlets.
    Islamist parties have grown in power since the fall of Saddam in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion, however.Some Iraqis fear hard-line Islamists may start to exert more influence over aspects of Iraqi life.
    Levels of violence rose to their highest in years in 2013, when nearly 8,000 civilians were killed. Security forces are battling Sunni Muslim insurgents in the western province of Anbar, where militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the city of Falluja on January 1.
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