ChemistryEquipment: Deadly bombs strike northern Iraq

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Deadly bombs strike northern Iraq

Fire fighter and policeman with heads in their hands

The BBC's Naser Shadid in Baghdad said when the police rushed to help victims from the first explosion, a second explosion went off in a car

Bombs targeting security forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk have left at least 17 people dead and injured dozens more, officials say.

There were reports of at least three bombs, with two exploding in quick succession near a police station.

Many of the casualties were police officers who rushed outside after the first bomb went off, one official said.

Kirkuk, about 180 miles (290km) north of Baghdad, has seen violence linked to ethnic divisions in the past.

Many of the casualties from the attacks were police officers

Thursday morning's attacks were the most deadly the city has seen for some months.

Some accounts put the death toll as high as 25, with more than 50 people wounded.

About an hour after the explosions near the police station, a third blast nearby was reported to have targeted the convoy of a senior police official, injuring a number of officers.

The bombs badly damaged buildings, and charred cars could be seen flipped onto their roofs.

Kirkuk lies in an oil-rich and ethnically divided area where Kurdish authorities are vying for control with the central government in Baghdad.

The city is populated by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen.

US forces, who are due to withdraw from Iraq later this year, have been conducting tripartite patrols in Kirkuk with central government forces and Kurdish authorities.

While violence has decreased in Iraq in the last few years, attacks are still frequent and government or security officials are often targets.

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